Behind the Curtains
by PurpleMarmalade
Summary: This is a piece representing the events of the Liar Game drama from the perspective of Akiyama Shin'ichi and Kanzaki Nao. It deals with mostly their thoughts and motivations throughout the drama with a few scenes that speculatively could have been added.
1. Chapter 1

Round I

AN: Hi, I'm Purple Marmalade. I'm fresh of the boat when it comes to writing fan-fiction; though I lurk around when the mood strikes me. However while watching Liar Game I was inexplicably compelled to write this story- and since feedback is always good for writing I'm posting it here. Of course since I can't seem to write anything short the small spark of inspiration that came from a single 30 second scene from the drama has turned into a full length pseudo-retelling of the entire drama...

On that note, this will be a retelling of the DRAMA- while I've read some of the manga I'm not generally a big manga reader and I don't expect to get far enough into it to write something based on it with confidence. By day I'm a languages scholar- which is why I watch so much Japanese drama, but I really don't appreciate mixing languages in writing so this story will be 100% in English. Other than that I hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading. *This chapter has edited with help from BGR (who is absolutely fantastic)*

Purple Marmalade

* * *

From the first moment he met her Akiyama Shinichi could not help but be baffled by Kanzaki Nao. She was _obviously_ trouble- he could tell that from the time that she bumped into him not five minutes after his release from prison.

When she ran literally right into him, he almost snapped at her to watch where she was going; but as soon as he saw her, the need vanished. Somehow he felt that yelling at her could be equated to kicking small dogs and drowning kittens. He was completely bemused.

"Just who the hell are you anyways?"

Resisting the urge to help her up and berate her for not being more cautious he chose to walk away-

and she chose to follow him.

Although he had noticed her presence behind him immediately, he did not acknowledge it hoping that she would give up and go away. He didn't want company. Nor did he want to hear a sob story. After all three years in prison did not serve to make anyone sociable.

Glancing at her discretely he thought that perhaps if he took a less savory route to the lodging house he planned to stay at, she would be frightened away. He supposed that if he made a motion to strike her himself he could save himself the trouble of going through the Chinese market, but decided against it. He reasoned that she looked like the type to run to the police at the first sign of trouble- three years in prison was more than enough.

They walked in silent procession for a fair distance through the rowdy and dilapidated market when he finally worked himself into enough frustration to try a less passive way to force her to leave. His lie "Wait here. I'll just go home to drop my bag." sounded so weak to his own ears that he didn't think for a minute that even a five year old would believe it.

She did.

Akiyama scoffed internally as he walked away; if she was in trouble, it was certainly her own fault for being so damn gullible- that wasn't his fault; and it certainly wasn't his responsibility to help her. Besides, she would have left as soon as she saw his back if she had any sense.

Still later on as the sun was setting he couldn't help his curiosity.

She was still there.

She stood in exactly the same place that he had left her, looking completely miserable as a fight broke out in the impromptu bar that had sprung up as the sun went down. It was pitiful.

"Just get it already, will you?" Akiyama almost growled to himself, wishing she would get the message. Leaving a girl alone to spend the night in such a rough neighborhood struck him as something his mother would disapprove of. Still- he was sure that she would be gone by morning.

That night in the capsule hotel that he had chosen to stay at after finding that the lodging house had gone out of business (many things had changed in the three years that he had been away) Akiyama couldn't sleep. There were too many things to consider. What sort of future did he have? He couldn't go back to school- not only did he not have the money; he doubted that any school would take him. A life of repetitive menial tasks or intense physical labour did not appeal to him, but then neither did a life of swindling. As those were the only jobs he was qualified for, his future looked dim.

Akiyama flicked through the channels on the tiny TV not watching more than a minute of any one station. Finally sighing to himself he turned off the power and lay in his capsule, unable to avoid the thoughts flooding through his mind. He missed his mother. Somehow when she had been there, there had been a purpose to his life.

That girl- Nao- reminded him of her.

Akiyama walked through the market the next morning, the same way that he had the night before. It wasn't for her he reminded himself forcefully; that girl- Nao- would be long gone.

"Akiyama-san" Lost in his thoughts Akiyama was startled by the plaintive bleat though outwardly he showed no signs of it.

She was still there.

He couldn't really believe his eyes- surely she would have gone home by now. "After being kept waiting for so long, you'd usually go home, wouldn't you?" he voiced as incredulously as he could permit.

She looked at him innocently, stuttering some nonsense about listening to him. Suddenly he was angry. Angry at himself for allowing someone like her to sit in such a place for so long and angry at her for allowing him to treat her that way. Why couldn't she see that this wasn't a safe place to spend the night waiting for him?

Allowing his frustration to take a hold of him for a few minutes, and he scolded her soundly "You're too honest for your own good, that's why you're getting deceived." bitterness rising up in his mouth. She was going to get herself killed.

"To be stupidly honest- is it such a bad thing?" For a moment he couldn't help but stare at her. Surely such a person couldn't exist in this world? Surely not. His curiosity grew and his resolve to not get involved with her -somebody who could only cause him trouble- crumbled under her surprisingly determined gaze.

Akiyama let out a sigh "I'll just hear your story, that's all." The grin that resulted on her face almost made him smile. Almost.

Akiyama walked silently through the Chinese market, Nao following faithfully two steps behind him. He didn't slow down to make it easier for her to follow his long strides, even when her fatigue from spending the night on the cold stone became apparent though he noticed it. He felt a bit vindictive of her ability to wrap him around her finger. She didn't even know him!

When she began to sway on her feet as if about to collapse though, he began to feel his heart soften; she hadn't complained once of his unkindness to her. Rather it seemed that she held the belief that he was the kindest person on the planet. Frowning he took her arm and let her to a small noodle shop and sat her at the closest table. Leaving her there puzzled as he walked off.

The smile that lit her face when he returned with two bowls of noodles struck him in a way that almost tempted him to tell her that they were both for him. It really wouldn't be to his advantage to encourage her staunch belief in kindness that wasn't there. Sighing for the umpteenth time since he had met her he laid one neatly in front of her.

"Eat this." He said gruffly, only to cause her smile to widen. "If you collapse before I hear your story I don't want to carry you." He felt the need to add, the twinkle in her eyes made him feel like he was being laughed at.

"100 million yen?" He could barely believe it.

How could a girl like that get involved in something so big?

"That's really hard to believe..." he spoke in wonderment. He believed every word of what she had told him- he didn't think her capable of lying even before she affirmed that she was telling the truth.

He could see the desperation in her eyes- the type that makes people do crazy things.

Mentally beating his head against the table for getting caught up in her problems and feeling compelled to help her he asked her "What do you want to do? Do you want to win such a game? Or do you want to quit?" already knowing that she would want to quit. He knew the type- always trying to avoid conflict, unable to do anything for themselves. Well he would show her the true nature of this world.

He began to prepare immediately. He admitted that he was using really amateur tactics against Fujisawa, as well as Nao, but he hadn't had much time to think of a plan- nor did he have much information.

Getting Nao to tell Fujisawa her intentions to play the game had been his way of gathering more useful information- and had the added bonus of causing Fujisawa some extra stress. He hadn't been prepared for the effect that Fujisawa's lies had on her. He hadn't wanted to see her so beaten. That's why he told her that it was going to be alright; though even he wasn't sure how.

Slowly his plan came together in his mind, and he began to execute it. It involved a large amount of stress for both Fujisawa and Nao to work, and he thought with relentless glee that it would teach both of them not to rush so blindly into things. However; as Nao became paler and paler losing both weight and the shine in her eyes because of the added stress of watching Fujisawa, her part-time job, and visiting her father at the hospital Akiyama had begun to feel slightly guilty for what he was about to put her through.

He rented a room for her.

He took over more of her shifts so that she could visit her father.

He made sure she ate and slept enough.

It wasn't. None of it was enough to compensate for the stress he was about to put her under. It frustrated him to think that her comfort might affect his ability to think. It frustrated him- so he ignored her. It was all according to plan. He didn't let her growing uneasiness change his plan. Even her begging eyes could not sway him to reveal his plan. When she cried he turned away.

In the end it worked perfectly. It was worth it (whatever 'it' was). She had won and he had earned his 50 million yen reward. He told himself it was worth it when she despondently questioned his methods of keeping her in the dark about his plan.

He was amazed when she hesitantly asked "About Fujisawa-sensei... What's going to happen to him now?" Keeping a careful watch on her reaction, he calmly told her that they would probably sell him off; but he was still taken by surprise when upon hearing his speculation she turned around and headed back to Fujisawa's house. There was no doubt in his mind that she had gone to give him her half of the prize money.

Maybe people like that existed after all.

Sighing to himself Akiyama resigned himself to the sudden surge in his conscience- he felt obligated by her righteousness to help the man who had condemned her to face a debt of 100 million yen. He was going insane. Surprisingly, it felt good.

"Give this to Fujisawa as well" he told her ignoring her obliviousness to the effect she has on others, making up some flimsy loophole about how they had agreed on splitting the prize. It seemed that a moral compass was contagious.

That was the first time she saw through his lies.


	2. Chapter 2

Game II

Right so there were issues with the formatting of the last chapter- sorry about that - hopefully those are fixed now. I should have warned everyone; I'm in a strange, sappy mood right now so it's quite likely that this story will be quite fluffy. I'm a big fan of happy endings... Read at your own risk. My characterization of Kanzaki Nao is a bit more devious than she's portrayed because seriously I'm pretty clueless most of the time but I refuse to believe that she's that pure and innocuous.

Since I quite forgot to do it last time I'm going to say: I've got absolutely nothing to do with Liar Game and it's ownership- and I've no notions of making a profit off writing fan-fiction.

* * *

She led him eagerly to her small apartment despite all of his protests. She felt that if she let him go that she would never see him again. Perhaps she was right. She wasn't lying though- she really did want to do something for him in return for what he had done for her, and ultimately what he had done for Fujisawa-sensei. Then again, a little selfishly, she wanted to spend some more time in his company. Her cooking was the only thing she felt confident offering him- perhaps if he tasted that he might even come back.

She hadn't expected another black invitation.

A million things raced through her mind as she stared in disbelief at the writing not yet able to read it. The letters she was holding slid to the floor as she lost the strength to hold them up. A slightly hysterical keening escaped from her throat as her knees gave out.

Akiyama, who had been standing behind her, caught her arms as she fell and lowered her carefully to the ground. He fetched her glass of water and waited for her shallow breathing to steady before leading her to sit in front of her small TV. Taking the glass from her cold hands he allowed her a moment to compose herself, then reaching for the video tape that came with the letter he slid it into the VCR and hit play.

Nao felt her breath catch in her throat when she heard the dealer's voice. She could barely hear what he was saying above the blood surging in her ears. However as scared she was, her face settled into the same determined look that Akiyama had seen when she had approached him.

His respect for her grew.

Even sitting behind her at the other end of the room he knew that she was taking whatever the dealer said as the gospel truth, and though he knew that to be her nature by now he still felt like shaking her and telling her to wizen up to the fact that she was being played with.

Her heart stopped when Leronira said "The penalty for ignoring this message is 100 million yen" No matter what Akiyama said she couldn't take the chance, just as he knew that she wouldn't.

Nao felt a haze of hopelessness settle over her. Surely Akiyama would leave her now- she had already troubled him enough, and this game was not his burden to bear in the first place. If he left her she would be lost because no matter what she was not meant for the ruthlessness of the Liar Game.

Akiyama knew that he should have gotten out of the game while he still could. He knew that a game like that could swallow up people- consume them until it was all that was left in their lives, and corrupt them until they were bitter shells of themselves.

He had played such a game before.

Looking at Nao's stricken face he knew that he would not be able to leave her to fend for herself without feeling guilty. It was the type of guilt he had carried for years; he didn't think that he could endure any more. Picking up a pen he scribbled his phone number on a pad of paper. Tearing it out her got up giving it to her on his way to the door. Unexpectedly he felt tired.

When Akiyama stood up Nao had been sure that he was going to abandon her. She couldn't say anything; she was sure that if she tried to ask him to stay she would burst into tears and make a complete fool of herself. When he handed her his phone number she felt hope beginning to warm her numb, leaded feeling arms and legs.

It was thanks to the reassurance that Akiyama had not abandoned her that night that Nao was able to face her father the next day. Although he had noticed that she was not her usual self she had been able to convince him that nothing was too wrong with her.

After her visit Nao felt restless. Round two of the Liar Game Tournament was the next day and she was so nervous that she felt sure that she was shivering at the thought. It was also worrying her that she had not been in touch with Akiyama since the end of the first game.

Finding a peaceful spot under an old tree on her way home she paused to think. She did trust him, but he had lied to her so many times; albeit for her own good- but still. How do you know when somebody who lies all the time is being sincere? He had given the money back for Fujisawa; that certainly was a credit to his character, but he had lied even while doing that.

Trying to figure out Akiyama was exhausting.

Instead she turned her thoughts back to the tournament. "The second round starts tomorrow…" suddenly she couldn't bear to be alone. She dug in her bag for her phone; if Akiyama wasn't going to call her, she might as well call him.

The dial tone rang. Her heart jumped into her throat. She only allowed two rings before snapping the phone closed. Akiyama scorned weak people. And if she went to him for such foolish reasons as anxiety perhaps he would be right to scorn her.

Even more restless than before she shoved the phone back in her bag and stood up to leave. At that exact moment the bicycle policeman who had been so helpful by directing her to Akiyama went by. When their eyes met Nao dropped into a short bow surprised when he not only recognized her but parked his bike to come over and sit with her.

Glad that she was not alone anymore, she told him about the game. He seemed unimpressed by the whole affair. "Another round?" he questioned, his tone of voice skeptical. Nao resigned herself to only being believed by Akiyama. Maybe she should have called him anyways- at least he didn't mock her fear.

"But I think I'm just going to ignore them…" Nao told Tanimura. She had been unsure, but something about the police officer made her want to listen to Akiyama's advice.

It wasn't until he said "You know, people like them, they usually aim for weak people." That he struck a cord with her. She didn't want to be weak. But going to the LGT Office by herself didn't seem to be possible. That's why when Tanimura offered to go with her she jumped at the chance to show Akiyama that she was not weak; that she could be strong and do things for herself. When Akiyama called her back she was able to greet him with renewed enthusiasm.

The next day when Tanimura picked her up in his car, wearing his civilian clothes she felt less than confident. He must have seen her nervousness because he was very kind to her- reassuring her that everything would be alright if she just went and told the LGT Office to leave her alone.

When she saw the mansion that the second round was to be held in she felt the dread start to rise in her stomach. If the LGT Office could afford to potentially lose 200 million yen for ever set of players and afford this mansion then they could probably afford to force her to compete regardless of Tanimura's presence.

Hearing crying she paused, looking around she saw a girl sitting on the steps crying but before she could go up to her she was approached by the woman who had come to collect the money for the first round.

"Welcome to the second stage of the Liar Game." She said, snapping Nao out of the slight daze that she had been in. Nao turned frantically to Tanimura for support, then told the secretariat of her intentions to quit. For a minute she could have sworn that she saw amusement in Eri's expression. "You came with someone from the police?"

In shock Nao turned to where Tanimura had been standing, instead of seeing him backing her, she heard the engine of his car start up and in that horrible moment she knew that she had been mistaken in trusting him. "Our organization is much bigger than you imagined."

Nao tried to swallow the lump that had settled in her throat, her eyes clearly showing the shock and fear that she felt in the moment. If Tanimura was a part of the Liar Game then who else was? She wished that she had listened to Akiyama; or at the very least told him what she had planned to do.

Akiyama was no fool. He had been expecting Nao to call him, that's why he had given her his number in the first place. He had expected her to crack under the pressure of ending up in a colossal debt. She had done exactly as he expected by calling him the day before the second round; it was unfortunate that he had not picked up the first call.

When he called her back she had been conspicuously calm and cheerful. She babbled on about taking care of herself and repaying him properly for all that he had done for her. It made him very weary. It told him that somehow in between her call to him and his calling her back not more than half an hour later the LGT secretariat had convinced her to handle the situation on her own.

As he had suspected- they were being watched. It was worse than that though- Nao, as gullible as she was would have been on her guard this close to the second round and would be unlikely to take advice from strangers. That she had so quickly changed her mind about asking for his help did not bode well.

He called her the next day, and when she didn't answer he groaned in exasperation. That foolish girl had actually fallen for whatever they had told her and gone to the next round. He went to her apartment in hope that for once he was terribly wrong, but she didn't answer the door; nor did she pick up her phone when he called her again.

For once he didn't think of the consequences, he just ran towards the location of the second round. Less than half way there he stopped and rented a bike, it was too far for him to run, and he had to hurry and catch up with Nao before she did anything even more irredeemably stupid.

After leaving the bike outside, he entered through the iron gates. He noticed Takada sitting prominently in the driveway of the large mansion. He walked up to her and asked her what she was doing there.

When she told him her story it immediately struck him as odd. If she had wanted to quit the tournament she only had to return half of her prize money, which in her case would have been 50 million yen if she had managed to win the maximum prize which it seemed she had. Even if she wanted nothing more to do with the game usually one would keep the extra money, but she had brought the whole amount here in form of a check; which further meant that she had managed to deposit the 100 million yen in a bank without raising any questions. Furthermore; if she had won the first round so spectacularly then she was more than clever enough to not be tricked so easily.

He was being set up.

He smirked inwardly; if they wanted him to play this game he would play along for now. When Eri came and told him that he could take Takada's place in the game he was sure that he was being set up. He also knew that they knew that he knew that he was being set up, but both he and Eri kept up the illusion that he had been fooled by Takada, and he joined the tournament- for Nao's sake.

He had managed to get there just in time to make a dramatic entrance. It was all a part of the game, it helped to make the other players more intimidated. The relief in her eyes was tangible. He still felt the need to scold her a bit for not heeding his advice, but at her guilty expression he decided to let it go. It was no use being angry with her for being herself, as troublesome as that was.

She needed him, it made it worth it.

* * *

longing. for. redemption: Thank you for reviewing. I'm very glad that people are actually reading my writing- mostly nothing but my essays get further than myself. Yes Enid Blyton XD I was going through the basement and I found two big boxes of Enid Blyton books which I promptly read again... The amount of times I've said 'gosh' and 'I say' this week is nothing short of astonishing.


	3. Chapter 3

Game II

AN: Well here we are at chapter 3. Never in my life have so many people read my work; so thank-you everyone. Thank-you to Thun and Skoellya Seyth who reviewed, my responses are at the end.

Purple Marmalade

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As soon as the dealer began to explain the game Akiyama began observing the people around the room. There were twenty-two people in all including himself, if he took himself and Nao out of the equation there were twenty opponents in this round. None of them looked particularly intelligent except No.15 Ishida Rei, she would be a potential ally in this game.

There was also the matter of Takada Michiko whom he had replaced; although she was no doubt a plant by the LGT Office he suspected that the check that had been 'stolen' from her was real, thus the person who had taken it from her was also real. Perhaps it was another plant by the organization or a player who had been manipulated into taken the opportunity for an extra 100 million yen- either way, a dangerous opponent.

As soon as Etou- the tall man in leopard skin spoke up of his suspicions of the game being set up Akiyama put him in the list of less dangerous people. Of course there was no way of being absolutely certain, but somebody willing to draw so much attention to himself in this way was less likely to be a serious threat. In the same way he discarded Aso Hiromi, and Takyoshi Miura.

Despite the fact that the dealer assured them that the game could not be swayed by alliances made by the players he already had the inklings of a plan but he needed time to observe the other players to put it into motion effectively.

As he ate he observed the other players. Only Ishida was eating besides him- she would be a challenge, she had the same presence of mind as he did to observe the other players in the room while intimidating them with a portrayal of confidence. Besides that she had not removed her sunglasses so she could not be trying to make herself less noticeable- she was not the player who had stolen the cheque.

All of the players placed themselves around the room maintaining their distance and staring stoically, no doubt lost in their thoughts of how to support a 100 million yen debt. That's why he noticed Tsukahara Yuu almost immediately. He was the only one who had brought a suitcase with him and although the expression on his face was one of nervousness he was looking around the room at the other players.

Before he could observe too much more his line of sight was cut of by Nao. He frowned at her. She looked pale. "You're not eating?" he asked her as concerned as he would allow himself to be.

"Seems like you're the only one who can stay calm" her obliviousness was surprisingly endearing.

"Eat something" he told her knowing beforehand that she wouldn't be able to. Sighing, he discreetly picked up a slice of the bread and wrapped it carefully in his handkerchief; perhaps she would want it later.

"What are you doing here anyway?" he asked her accusingly already knowing that she had been manipulated. When she confirmed his assumption that she had been tricked; he took a deep breath before asking rhetorically: "Again?" At this rate the daft fool really would get herself killed.

He swallowed at her sincere apology, for inexplicable reasons he didn't want to see her bow to him- he preferred her determined gaze as she met his eyes and faced him head on.

"Why are you here?" she asked him earnestly.

For once he answered with complete honesty, "I came here only to stop you" but at the guilt ridden expression on her face he wished that he had lied. All his experiences in life had taught him that telling the truth rarely helped a situation.

To distract her he decided to tell her about Takada Michiko, he didn't share his suspicions about the LGT Office's manipulations- after all his aim was to warn her, not scare her. "Let's win this game and get out of here" he told her.

And just like that he included her in his plans.

After the rehearsal game the players dispersed to their rooms. Akiyama went to his room briefly, after glancing around he walked around the floor marking the other player's rooms in his mind and went back to the room that the game was to occur in.

He had only been there for a minute before Ishida walked in. Their eyes met across the room- allies were made. The next person to come in was Tsukahara Yuu; Akiyama met Ishida's eyes again, and she nodded discretely.

Slowly the other players trailed in; Nao was predictably last to come in. The poor girl probably hadn't realised the true method of playing the game and had been too scared to stay alone.

Taking pity on her he shared some of his own observations with her. Her attentive listening boosted his ego, and he became involved in talking to her. For the first time in a long time talking didn't seem like a hardship. He directed her towards the other players; maybe a distraction that made her feel useful would help to bring back her confidence.

Her determination was adorable. The expression on her face looked like a six year old making a first attempt to ride a bike. It almost drew a laugh from him. Hopefully the skills she learnt from this would be like riding a bike- something she would never forget.

In the end Akiyama was surprised. Nao had been more useful than he had given her credit for. Her mild demeanour and sociable nature broke down the walls that people built around themselves, and in the end she managed to gather just as much information about the players (excluding Tsukahara and Ishida) by asking them as he had by observing them carefully for hours.

"I'm…scared…" he looked at her sharply; the colour was still gone from her face, and her lips quivered slightly. She was close to giving up. He couldn't allow that. So without thinking it through completely he blurted out that he had a guaranteed way to win the game.

It was one of the most stupid things he had ever done. He could have kicked himself, he had just thoughtlessly announced a plan in a room full of people who were no doubt straining to hear. However he didn't let his confidence waver, instead he got up and let Nao up the stairs to his own room, and explained the rest of his plan. Of course she ran off before he could tell her to be careful- but that wasn't much of a hindrance- he could work with whatever she managed to do.

He told her it was fool-proof. Now he just needed to make sure that it would be.

Usually when thrust into a position where everybody is your enemy you would retreat, or look for other players to work with. That's why Akiyama was surprised when Nao actually managed to gather together six of the other players together. She was neither a enough personality to convince them to join into her plan, nor did she look like a formidable enough person to inspire faith in her ability to plan.

Perhaps he had been mistaken about her.

Looking around at the other players he was unsurprised when he saw Tsukahara among them. He went ahead and let Nao explain his plan about covering both the yes and no answers for each question.

He could practically see the wheels turning in Tsukahara's head, then when Tsukahara signed the contract without complaint he was sure that, like himself, Tsukahara was here as a replacement for someone else. Finally, when he slipped up by mentioning the cheque for 100 million yen Akiyama was sure that his suspicions were correct.

His smirk only widened when Nao and Tsukahara made everyone believe that Ishida was the most suspicious person. Alright then, it would have to be his second plan that he went forward with.

Not wanting the matter hashed over too much further in case one of the others noticed something he distracted them by bringing the focus to their impending victory. When Tsukahara suggested that they use the time to talk to the others and not draw attention to themselves he was almost certain that Tsukahara intended to use his plan to form another team to ensure his own victory.

He wasn't worried. He was counting on it.

After all of the others had left he took in Nao's disposition. The colour had returned to her face and she had a slight smile on her lips, but now that the anxiety had left her she looked exhausted.

He supposed that since she had been tricked into coming to the second round that she had not brought anything with her. The dress that she was wearing looked uncomfortable. Sighing in resignation he sent her to the adjoining bathroom and told her to get ready for bed because the next day was undoubtedly going to be a long one.

When she had gone he quickly unzipped the leather jacket he was wearing and took off the white button down shirt that he had worn especially that day to visit his mother's grave. He folded it neatly and put it on the bed- when she returned he intended to have her change her clothes. After all a good night's sleep could be the difference between victory and defeat in this game.

When she emerged from the bathroom he was momentarily stunned once more by the look of complete innocence that she had, and was unable to do more than mutter something incoherent and grunt to wards the shirt on the bed. The smile that lit up her face, and her breathless "Akiyama-san" made the sides of his mouth involuntarily twitch upwards.

She scuttled towards the bed and grabbed the shirt clutching it close to herself- then she disappeared back into the bathroom. He stared after her incredulously- he had thought that she would take the shirt to her own room to change- he shook his head at her naivety.

While she was gone he took the time to cement his plan further in his head. He was lost in thought when she finally emerged from the bathroom. He looked up. His breath caught in his throat. There was something inexplicable about her wearing his shirt that made a possessive feeling rise in his chest. Although he scoffed at her naivety, especially when it came to other people's intentions towards her-

For now she was his to protect.

The next morning the game really began. As expected Tsukahara approached everybody in the room at least once- he seemed to take special interest in Nao for some reason. Akiyama could bet that it was because he wanted to hurt Nao by getting her trust so that in the end his betrayal would hurt her more.

It was cruel. Inwardly Akiyama seethed, but his whole plan depended on not raising Tsukahara's guard towards him. Tsukahara had to believe that he had tricked him in order for his plan to work.

Of course when Nao next got a chance to talk to him she mentioned offhandedly how nice Tsukuhara-san was to comfort her the night before. It all fell into place for Akiyama- Tsukahara had seen Nao in his shirt last night leaving his room and had made assumptions- it wasn't out of cruelty towards the girl that Tsukahara was gathering her trust- it was to leverage her against him, and gage his reaction; in which case he could do nothing about it, because if he showed even the slightest sign of distrust towards Tsukahara then his plan would fail.

He would have to keep his mouth shut- for her sake.

The game ended exactly as he had foreseen it would. He met Ishida's eyes again from across the room she nodded slightly. She would hear him out at the next opportunity.

When Nao approached him again she still hadn't noticed that anything was wrong. He was disappointed- surely she was intelligent enough to spot the inconsistencies? Obviously not. Well then he would enlighten her. When he did he immediately wished that he hadn't given in to vindictiveness.

There was no point to worrying her needlessly.

* * *

Thun- Thank you for reviewing, I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. The scene that inspired this actually took place in this chapter. I noticed in episode 3 that after making a team when Akiyama is sitting by himself in his room there is a folded shirt laying on the bed. Then there's a clip of Kanzaki exiting a room wearing that same shirt before she meets Fukunaga on the stairs. Who knows what Akiyama was wearing under that brown jacket of his before this point? He never unzipped it...

Skoellya Seyth- Thank you for calling my writing pleasant, really that's all I'm aiming for with this piece as this is mostly an experiment with tenses for me. You're absolutely right, so far I haven't added much to the drama- but I think that at this point Akiyama just thinks of Kanzaki as an annoying idiot, and I don't think he wants to spend time with her yet XD. Some of those missing scenes from the first and second round are going to be in chapter 6 as flashbacks after round two though. I really think that the point at which they really start to trust and like each other is somewhere in the resurrection round, after that point I think that Akiyama is willing to spend a lot more time with Nao.


	4. Chapter 4

Game II

Hello again. First of all thank you to every one who is reading this, it's very encouraging. Thank you to Skoellya Seyth and Thun who reviewed the last chapter, my responses are as always- at the end. Thank you Thun for pointing out that in a brief moment of silliness I turned Akiyama into a girl for the end of the last chapter, I've fixed that. I hope I haven't let that slip in anywhere else; writing in a passive past tense is pretty different for me, and I'm really enjoying it. In fact writing fan-fiction I find give me more time to focus on the general style of my writing instead of plot and time-line which I'm finding very enjoyable; who knows, this may become a full time hobby.

As a side note, this chapter is not the end of the S&M discussion- it will be making a reappearance in a later chapter.

Purple Marmalade

* * *

They took a half hour break between the first and second question. It was just enough time for Akiyama to take Nao aside and assuage her concerns about the progression of the game. After all, she was going to go home today and he didn't want her to feel that she would be stuck with a 100 million yen debt. Besides that it would be better for her to stay away from the final question as it would invariably become nasty at some point when Tsukahara realized that his manipulations had failed.

When they got back to the room there was only a minute before the next question. No. 11, Etou, got picked to ask the question.

"Between S an M, of course, it's S." Akiyama looked at Nao's confused face and felt a laugh threatening to escape.

It was a moment that he would look back at and cherish when she asked him "Akiyama-san, what is S and M?"

Maybe naivety wasn't so annoying after all.

He turned his head to face her; she was still waiting for an answer. "Well…" he started off awkwardly "It's like offense and defense. S is aggressive, and M is passive."

He was caught between laughing and crying hysterically when she absorbed what he had said and concluded "Then according to my character I'm M right?" she was hopeless. He could swear that he heard crickets chirping as he tried to formulate an appropriate response.

Taking his silence for admonition she quickly spoke up to reassure him "It's alright, according to our plan I will vote 'yes' so I will be S."

Unable to allow her to say anything more preciously innocent he cut in before she could continue "No, that's not what I meant…" then before she could think of anything else to add he continued to say "I think it's better if you don't say things like that in public."

Of course she completely misunderstood his meaning yet again; but that was fine so long as she didn't go around telling everyone the she was 'M'- even if he had begun to suspect that maybe she was to a slight extent. Suddenly he remembered what he had wanted to tell her in the first place. She easily switched votes with him without question. The foolish girl didn't think for even one minute that maybe his intentions had been to get her kicked out of the game.

How could people like her survive in this world?

Tsukahara was not so easy to fool. Soon after Nao left he had approached Akiyama, but Akiyama had been quick to distract him by making him think that he still suspected Ishida.

It was obvious that Tsukahara had wanted Nao to be in the final round, and Akiyama to be out of the game where he could do him no harm. Apparently Tsukahara had no objections to kicking small dogs and drowning kittens either.

Tsukahara was not easily distracted however, and quickly had returned to the topic of the switched votes. It was time for Akiyama to call him on it. "Is it such a big deal that I switched votes with her?" Akiyama turned to face Tsukahara, he could practically see the sweat gathering on his forehead. He backed down immediately.

The look on Nao's face when she realized that the game was going to end in the 'worst case scenario' was laughable- that girl had just realized that something was wrong when Akiyama and Tsukahara had been planning for it all along.

He had felt like punching Tsukahara when he came over to say "So this is goodbye for now, right, Nao-chan" He called her Nao-chan. He had no right.

Even they weren't that close.

Instead of giving into the desire to push Tuskahara away from Nao he simply nodded to her, and began assessing the room as she left.

She had called him that night. He wasn't used to people calling him for no reason so he quickly assumed that the LGT Office had already approached her for the money. He assumed that she was in trouble and needed him to bail her out.

Instead she asked him about the game. Then he assumed that she had wanted to know that her money was safe and had called him to gauge how reliable he was. Of course it was about the money.

He was floored when instead she asked him "Are you going to be alright?"

She had called to ask about him.

Suddenly he couldn't talk to her anymore, so he told her that unless he did something just now they were going to lose tomorrow and hung up. Before leaving his room he turned his phone off- it was time to meet Ishida face to face.

She called him again the next morning. "Waiting at home, I couldn't stop worrying." She had come back because she had been worried for him, but she had put herself in a position where she could be leveraged against him. He tried to be terse with her for coming- but how can you be angry with somebody who constantly has your best interests at heart?

He allowed himself a small smile; he would win this game for her.

She had called him that night. The worry that she had felt when she saw that No. 15 had made it to the final round had not melted away in the least; so she did the only thing that she could do. She called him.

He didn't pick up the phone the first few times; steadily her worry for him grew. Perhaps something had happened? That's why when he finally picked up the phone she was sure that he would be able to hear the relief in her voice.

Almost immediately he asked her "Has the LTG Office already asked you for the money?" He was so kind to worry about her when really he was the one in trouble. She quickly assured him that that was not why she was calling.

She tried briefly to talk about X with him, but it didn't seem that he was very interested in talking about it with her. Finally unable to stop herself; she asked him directly "Are you going to be alright?"

He told her that unless he did something soon they would lose the next day. She couldn't help but be pleased that he was sharing his troubles with her. His tone of voice changed abruptly after that, and he left even more abruptly. Nao couldn't help but worry even more after that. Was he scared? Had he hung up the phone so that she wouldn't catch on to that fear?

I long night filled with restless sleep stretched before her, then finally when she woke up at the first lights of dawn, unable to sleep any longer, she decided that she would go back to the site of the second round. Maybe she could still help Akiyama-san somehow.

She called him again the next morning when she got to the mansion that housed the second round. Although she didn't want to show it the LGT Secretariat did really frighten her, and she just needed to hear his voice to reassure her.

He didn't pick up straight away, and when he did the first thing that he mentioned was how early it was. She felt bad. She hoped that she hadn't woken him up. Maybe he had spent the whole night worrying and had just fallen asleep?

Eager to please him she excitedly told him that she was outside. She had been unprepared for the admonition that followed this statement.

It was as if he didn't want her there.

She cheered up a bit when she saw Hiromi-san and No.1, at least she wouldn't be alone, but the smile fell from her face when she saw the LGT Secretariat approaching them. She waited quietly expecting for them to be told to leave, but instead they were invited inside into a room with a one way mirror to watch the game.

She noticed instantly that Akiyama-san was not wearing his name plate, but for one she held her tongue. If he had taken it off then there had to be some purpose to it.

She trusted him.

At least she trusted him to know what he was doing in order to win the game.

It was Tsukahara's turn to pick the question. He picked "The one to win this game is you." Then Nao waited impatiently through six hours of near torture to hear the results of what would be the last question in this round.

She saw Akiyama sitting by himself in the same spot that he had occupied for nearly the whole round. It was difficult to see what he was doing but it seemed that he was folding his answer card as small as he could get it.

Such an action made no sense to Nao, and apparently Tsukahara couldn't understand what he was doing either. He went up to Akiyama and they talked for a bit; Tsukahara seemed really nervous. He had good reason to be nervous- after all it was 100 million yen hanging in the balance; compared to that Akiyama-san seems really calm.

Akiyama was last to put in his ballot. There was only a few seconds now before the conclusion of the round. Nao was certain now that Akiyama was up to something but she couldn't fathom why he would make such an effort when victory was so clearly theirs.

The dealer came back on the screen and announced the end of the round. Nao could practically taste the victory. Etou-san's ballot was first to be read, then it was no. 15's; both of them had voted 'no'. Relief flooded Nao's senses, now no matter what one of the members of their team was going to be the minority, and then she and Akiyama-san could finally stop playing this game.

A smile sprung up on her face, and at Tsukahara's pleased nod she could no longer find it in herself to sit and wait for the end. Excited she had burst into the room that was being used for the game. She wanted to share in the triumph.

Of course it had been an impulsive thing to do, but luckily they had been allowed to stay and watch the game from the side. Nao rocked in her seat barely able to hold in her joy. When Hiromi-san asked her about it she fumbled to think up a lie to tell her, but before she could say anything Tsukahara revealed that they had made a team to all of the other players.

Tsukahara then shocked her when he completely broke out of the character that she had thought him to be. Maybe Akiyama was right. Maybe she was too trusting if she was taken in by everyone who tried to deceive her. It hurt. It hurt even more that Akiyama-san didn't say anything in her defence.

When Tsukahara pulled out the wig and impersonated a woman's voice Nao felt absolutely helpless. He had planned this from the start, and he had even gotten her to suspect Ishida-san unfairly.

"Well you don't want to admit it, right? Because the one who invited "X" into your team, was you, wasn't it?" It was true. She didn't want to believe it. By being so gullible she had caused Akiyama-san so much trouble.

Maybe being so honest wasn't a good thing after all.

She had heard enough, but she still had to know why Tsukahara- no- Fukunaga had deceived her so hurtfully. Even if he had used such a strategy there had been no reason for him to have been so nice to her only to betray them in the end. It was a callous thing to do.

His plan really had been quite clever- Nao certainly never would have thought of it. Fukunaga was clever- but he could never match Akiyama's genius. She had doubted him before, but she had been wrong.

He had come after her to help her. He had no obligation to, but he had. He had known all along what he was getting into- and now all she could do was to have faith in him.

Nao truly felt sorry for Etou-san. He had been completely deceived like she had been- but unlike her he had nobody to rely on but himself. That's why when Fukunaga started to beat him she threw herself over him. He was already demoralised enough- for Fukunaga to try and compound on that when he though that he had already won was just depraved.

She hadn't expected Fukunaga-san's cruelty. Tears began to well up behind her eyes but she was determined not to let them fall. Akiyama-san was there, so there must be some hope in spite of it all.

When Fukunaga's vote turned out to be yes Nao's faith in Akiyama was shaken- she had expected some reaction from him- but he sat unmoving in his seat- he wouldn't even look at her. She finally accepted that maybe they had lost. She had been just as surprised as everybody else in the room when Akiyama tied the game. Then she saw the smirk spread across his face. He had planned this.

Then maybe everything would be alright?

* * *

Skoellya Seyth- Since your last review I've looked over what I have written so far, and quite sheepishly I realized that it's true- there is next to no conversation between Akiyama and Nao. I guess it's one of the things I never really liked as an author and once I no longer had to write according to school guidelines I dropped it. I can see though that it makes my writing really strange in terms of fiction, and I'll try to add it in when Nao and Akiyama spend more time together. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter, thank you for reviewing.

Thun- Thank you so much for pointing out my mistake, I imagined Akiyama in Nao's dress while correcting it... I'm glad you're enjoying reading this. Really I didn't notice Akiyama's shirt the first two times I watched the drama, I had always thought that Nao wearing the shirt was its only appearance. I was watching it a third time with a friend who hadn't seen it when I saw the shirt on the bed, and I had to write about it to appease my imagination.

I definitely intend to continue this at least until the end of the first season (so plenty of Yokoya- I really hope I can do him justice), and most likely the second season as well (personally I would love to write more about Akiyama's past). I haven't seen the movie yet, but I'm pretty sure once I do I'll want to write about that too. So far I have about 12000 words written out and a good general idea of what chapter seven, the one I'm about to write, is going to look like.


	5. Chapter 5

Game II

Hello again. Thank you to all my readers, I'm very sorry about the lack of update for yesterday- I was at my brother's piano recital, and then attended a fundraiser later in the evening which unfortunately lasted well past midnight, the auction was quite good though; it ended up raising over $100, 000 for the charity and I enjoyed it despite my habit of being in bed by 10pm. Thank you to Skoellya Seyth for your review; it's very nice to have a critical eye look at my work and tell me about the improvements I can make. A more detailed response is at the end.

Also to avoid burning out I will from now on be updating on Friday, Sunday, and Wednesday (and possibly in between if I can't contain myself) until this story is complete; if I run into some difficulty and will not be able to update on those days I will post a dated note at the end of the preceding chapter.

Thanks,

Purple Marmalade

* * *

When he hadn't seen her and the other players after she called him to let him know that she had come back to the site of the second round he had been relieved. He hadn't wanted her there- if she wasn't there she couldn't be used by Tsukahara- or whatever his name was, nor could she distract him. He was so close to revealing Tsukahara when Nao burst into the room that he was momentarily stunned. He wanted to grab her and shake her when she walked right into Fukunaga's trap. If she had just given him five more minutes he would have safely revealed Fukunaga's deceptions; instead she barged into the room without a care in the world.

Of course Fukunaga used her, the shock of his betrayal was clearly on her face- she was an easy target. He couldn't look at her. He hadn't wanted to see her cry. It was why he had wanted her to be eliminated before the end of the round. He nearly lost his cool demeanor when she flung herself in front of Etou. Nao- the bloody idiot that she was- was going to get hurt one day if she kept up as she was. His stony gaze met Eri's- he couldn't allow Nao to be physically hurt. Eri nodded- she understood his terms for continuing in the game, and she stepped in to redirect Fukunaga's attention.

Nao did manage to accomplish one thing- not that he couldn't have done it himself- she managed to get Fukunaga to revel his plan to everyone setting the stage for Akiyama's own plan. He nodded to Ishida- she agreed to do as he had told her.

Eri continued with the game. As he had expected she opened Fukunaga's ballot first, it was as anticipated a 'yes'. He could see the tension rise in the room- nobody doubted that Fukunaga had won now. It was as if they had expected him to somehow change Fukunaga's vote when it was so much simpler to change his own. Eri glanced at him just before she announced his ballot. There was clear amusement in her eyes as she acquiesced to the fact that his plans were always brilliant; he allowed himself a small smile back.

The look on Fukunaga's face had been priceless. The thick idiot had actually thought that he would be that easy to defeat. He snickered under his breath smirking at him widely. He could ignore for now that when his ballot had been read Nao's expression had been almost as surprised as Fukunaga's.

He could ignore that she didn't trust him.

Predictably Fukunaga questioned him about how he had known about his plan. Akiyama explained- he had to admit most of his explanation was aimed at chiding Nao for having so little faith in his abilities.

The round was declared invalid, and another question was to be posed. Akiyama grinned to himself- there was a fifty percent chance that he would be called upon to ask the next question as both Etou and Fukunaga had already had their chance. It was a bit of a gamble- but it only meant a slight advantage if he was called- that way he could intimidate the other players with his complete control of the situation even more and stop them from coming up with a strategy; though any strategy they could come up with at this point would be mostly pointless it was never wise to underestimate an opponent.

Fortune finally seemed to be on his side; he was picked to be the next person to ask the question. He had had several questions in mind, all of them designed to daunt the others in some way but at the last possible moment he changed his mind. He looked straight at Nao and said "In this world money is the most important thing."

The look in her eyes was contemplative, as if no matter how hard she tried she could not fathom what his answer to the question would really be. When he declared that he knew his answer already in front of everybody there was nobody in the room who looked more confused than her. It was more for her benefit than anybody else's that he held up his 'yes' card before flipping it to the 'no' card. Vindictive as it might be he wanted to see her squirm for barging in without a thought of his carefully laid out plans, for putting herself in a dangerous situation without a thought for her own safety, and for doubting him for those few minutes.

However the sight of seeing Nao squirm didn't bring the satisfaction that he had thought it would. It just made him feel like a cad. As strange as it was to him he finally began to see that maybe all of Nao's ludicrous actions stemmed from her honest concern for others.

There was just something about her that made him want to protect her- perhaps it was that she tried to protect others even when she had no means.

"To be stupidly honest- is it such a bad thing?" his thoughts drifted to the first time he had really stopped to listen to her. She really was honest in everything that she did- even her participation in the game showcased her earnestness. Surprisingly he found himself envying her- it was the same quality that he had never possessed.

He had always been a good liar.

Even as a small child he had been able to spin stories around the other children at school. He had once convinced his whole class that he had met a Kappa but it had let him go because of his politeness. Lies at that age were mostly harmless. But they had upset his mother nevertheless; she had often told him that the world would be a better place if only people were honest- that it would be a better lace if he was honest.

He had tried his best for her, but he had never believed her.

She reminded him too much of his mother in the ways that mattered most. She was too kind for her own good, too forgiving towards people who would continue to betray her if given the chance, too preciously innocent. He found her personality really annoying- but somehow he was willing to do crazy things for her- and he didn't even really know her! He didn't know how she had managed it but she had managed to take over his life.

Now he just had to deal with it.

The last part of his plan depended on the selfish survival instincts ingrained within the identity of all humans. He was sure that none of the other players would sacrifice themselves in order to defeat him and let the others win. Until this morning he had been sure that there was nobody in the world who would be willing to do so.

In any case this round's conclusion would surely prove to her that people's true nature was corrupt. He wasn't sure who he was trying to prove himself to- Nao of his mother. It didn't really matter; it had been proven thus many times and anybody who didn't believe the empirical evidence was clearly a fool.

It had been foolish of his mother to trust an acquaintance she hadn't seen for years. It had been foolish of her not to tell him that she had started a new job. It had been foolish of her not to tell him when she realized that she had gotten into trouble. It had been foolish of her to think that he would prefer that she jump. She had been a fool.

He was not a fool. He would win this game; now it was only a matter of time.

As soon as the clock started up for what Akiyama knew to be the final question Nao practically ran over to him to confront him about putting in his ballot first, and in front of everyone. How she couldn't see that clearly he had a plan by now was beyond him. Obviously he hadn't gone through all this trouble just to lose at the last moment.

He didn't have time for her questions right then. He had one last very important piece to slot into place. He had to put the fourth player- which in this case was Etou- into a state of unbearable anxiety. Fortunately this was laughably easy to accomplish; all he had had to do was make a cup of milk tea for himself, and give him a condescending look. Just like that Etou fell right into his trap.

Therein lay his real problem with his mother's high ideals. In some way he deeply enjoyed manipulating people- not to see them suffer by any means, but just to watch their reactions to stimulus. It was why he had chosen to go to university as a psychology major- human deception fascinated him.

Etou was every bit of the idiot he had thought him to be. Not only did he walk into his trap and try to make an alliance with Fukunaga he did it loudly allowing everyone to hear. This was even more perfect than he had planned, now he didn't have to wait for Fukunaga to make a deal with Ishida- Etou had left it open so that she could approach them. Akiyama ignored the proceedings after that. He had no doubt that Ishida would carry out the plan he had fed to her- after all she had ample motivation to follow his orders completely. While he was waiting for the squabbling to end he found a scrap piece of paper in his pocket and folded it into a crane.

His plan was carried out perfectly. He really hadn't had any doubt that it would. Eri had done a fantastic job of drawing out the suspense for everybody else though by reading his card after Etou's and Fukunaga's, and Ishida's card last- it was her job he supposed- drawing out the stress for all the players was understandably an advantage for the LGT Office.

He hadn't really expected for the dealer to demand that Fukunaga return Takada's check to him. It did warn him to be weary however; if these people wanted him to play this game badly enough to present him with a check for 100 million yen then there was some underhanded reason for them to do so.

He asked them directly "What are your intentions? Why are you holding this game?" not because he expected a candid answer, but as a declaration of his intentions to find out the truth.

He had already decided- he was going to play this game until the end- he was going to win.

* * *

Skoellya Seyth- I have to admit that the short paragraphs on my part were really more from an aesthetic point of view than for any merit towards the writing; I guess that's really not a valid reason to add extra breaks into my writing : ) so thanks for being critical (I have tried to look at this chapter from an author's perspective instead of a print-maker's).

A Liar Game anime would be amazing as long as it didn't get even more diluted than the drama but so far I've seen most fandoms that have an associated main-stream anime dissolve into a groan-worthy mess. Maybe it has something to do with the less than stellar translation, voice acting and censorship of English dubs? So far the quality of the authors for the Liar Game fandom have been nothing short of excellent, and I would hate to see a poncy Akiyama get together with an OC that leaves me gagging at her perfection.


	6. Chapter 6

Interlude

Hi. Here we are again. I must say, I'm completely awful at keeping myself to a writing schedule- I write way too much to not want to post everyday. Be forewarned however that this weekend is going be extremely stressful for me because I'm attending a funeral, and writing my SATs (I'm not really a youngling in high-school anymore, but I want to go to the States for university). Therefore I don't really know how much time I'll have to write. Thanks for reading so far into this, and thanks to Skoellya Seyth for reviewing.

The next few chapters are going to be original scenes before we get into the resurrection round because according to Nao it's a week after the second round that she loses touch with Akiyama. Extrapolating from the way she runs to the door and automatically thinks that it's Akiyama when Tanimura comes with her invitation I would assume that Akiyama has been visiting often her during this time.

* * *

From the moment she had met him Kanzaki Nao knew instinctively that he wasn't as depraved as everybody had made him out to be. He may have dismissed her entirely that first time she spoke to him- but she understood- she was asking a lot from him. If he hadn't been her last hope she would have left him alone.

He clearly still needed time to heal.

As much as she would have liked to respect his feelings she couldn't. If he didn't listen to her story and help her she didn't know what she would do next. There was no way she could tell her father what had happened. She didn't want him to feel like he was a burden to her because he was in the hospital.

When Akiyama had left her at the Chinese market she had believed that he was coming back at first- but after a night in the alley she wasn't certain that she hadn't been deceived again, he was after all a swindler. When he had come back she was sure that despite what anybody would say Akiyama-san was a good and kind person. Even though he agreed to help her he hadn't told her anything of what he was planning, and absolutely none of his actions made sense to her. That first day he had sent her straight home 'to get a good night's rest'. The next morning he had appeared at her doorstep but had refused to step inside the building- instead they had gone directly to Fujisawa-sensei's house with him briefly telling her what to do on the way there.

After that he disappeared for over a week only returning to take his turns to watch Fujisawa-sensei; something which she could see no advantage to- he never did anything noteworthy. She had almost started to doubt him when Akiyama-san did something so unexpectedly kind that he at once renewed her faith in him.

Towards the middle of the first week of watching Nao was getting very lonely. Until her father had become ill they had lived together, and even after he had been admitted to the hospital Nao went to visit him nearly every day. It had been four days now since she had seen him and she was sure that he would be getting worried about her, but her shift to watch Fujisawa-sensei was the same as the hospital visiting hours.

She hadn't expected Akiyama-san to notice her feelings.

On the fifth day of watching Fujisawa, Akiyama had come over to where she had been sitting and stared at her silently for a few minutes before asking her. "What is it?"

Hesitantly she replied "My father is in the hospital; I don't want him to worry." She was embarrassed to hear her voice crack slightly. She hoped that Akiyama-san hadn't noticed, but of course he had.

She had been stunned when after a few moments of silence he said as impassively as usual "Then you should go visit him."

She really wished she could go and visit him "But what about Fujisawa-sensei…"

"I will watch him for a few hours until you come back." And just like that Akiyama-san took over her shift so that she could visit her father. He appeared everyday at around the same time and gave her a few hours to go and visit her father- her visits weren't as long as they habitually were but they made her continually happy.

Maybe Akiyama-san really did care about people.

By the beginning of the third week she wasn't so sure. It seemed to her that Akiyama-san did absolutely nothing when he was around, and more often than not he disappeared entirely for hours. Even worse when she asked about his plan he completely ignored her.

She could clearly remember the moment she snapped- it was day twenty-two, and instead of doing anything productive Akiyama had gone out and bought fish.

Fish.

In a big tank.

Finally responding to her near hysterical state Akiyama-san had explained part of what he was trying to achieve to her. It placated her then- but she was positive that he wasn't telling her everything. It seemed that keeping people in the dark until the last possible moment was his standard modus operandi she thought bitterly. She was startled at herself- she who was generally able to think of anyone positively had been thinking angry thoughts towards someone. It wasn't like her.

He drove her crazy sometimes.

After that day Akiyama stayed away for three whole days- he had her take over his shifts as well as still taking her own, and she didn't hear a word from him. When he finally came back she confronted him once again, and he explained a little bit more. They also- in her mind- took their first offensive action against Fujisawa-sensei that day.

Akiyama-san had bought a tape-player, a fan, and what he told he were bottles of glycerine, and distilled water. He had very patiently explained, "The effects of mixing glycerine and distilled water produce a fog identical to the smoke from a fire"

She had understood his plan instantly. She had read something in a story once- perhaps it was one of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries that she had loved in high school- about using the same tactic. She relished in the look he gave her- she didn't like being thought of as stupid.

It still took her a long time to learn how to fan the 'smoke' properly to get the desired effect. Akiyama-san explained the process to her carefully, because if she did something wrong she could give herself a chemical burn, or light herself on fire.

The first time she added too much of the glycerine and had nearly choked on the fumes. She coughed so hard tears sprung up in her eyes and she nearly dropped the bucket. Akiyama-san had taken it from her at once and guided her to a chair.

While her coughing slowly lessened he had gone to the sink and poured her a glass of water. "Drink it slowly." He told her as he passed it to her.

Still unable to speak she nodded at him only to set off her coughing again. Hurriedly he had taken the glass from her before she spilt the water everywhere and dropped the glass. Then instead of taking chances he had held the glass for her to sip slowly from. When she had calmed down completely from her 'near death' experience- he had laughed at her when she called it thus- they went back to work.

After that day Akiyama disappeared once more only to show up on the last day of the round completely unconcerned. Nao had finally had enough of his nonchalance. What did he care anyways? It's not like it was him the dealer was going to come after.

It turned out that Akiyama-san had planned everything perfectly- right down to her reactions to everything. She had known him for three weeks and all she knew about him was that he was a cryptic, manipulative, shameless… the list of derogatory adjectives was never-ending.

She did sense a great sadness that he hid- sometimes he hid it too well and she forgot all about it- but then he would do something kind for her and she would see his pain lurking just beyond the façade. She saw it when he had first agreed to help her, and when he had carefully held up the glass of water for her, and she saw it when he gave up his half of the prize money to Fujisawa-sensei.

When she had been tricked by Tanimura-san she hadn't expected that he would come after her so she had been absolutely distraught. She hadn't been able to do anything in the first round without his help now she would have to face off against the winners of the first round. She would undoubtedly fail and be thrust into debt. No wonder Akiyama-san had told her to ignore the invitation.

Akiyama-san had been so calm, taking in everything while still being able to eat. She hadn't eaten since an early breakfast that day and if she wasn't so nervous she would have been unquestionably hungry. She didn't settle down until after Akiyama-san formed his team of eight players; then she felt reasonable secure- as secure as anyone could feel in the Liar Game- and the pangs of hunger hit her. Her stomach growled at her demanding that she find something to eat, but it was already late and besides the kitchen was closed; the LGT Secretariat still scared her too much at this point for her to ask for something to eat. She made up her mind to bear it for now and have a good breakfast the next day. Her body of course had different plans as her stomach would not stop growling throughout the entire meeting with the other six players. Thankfully everyone was so engrossed in the discussion that nobody seemed to notice her plight.

After the meeting ended and the other six players left she sat still for a moment, staring into space, relishing the relief of having such a good strategy. She nearly fell of the chair she had been sitting in when a hand was abruptly thrust into her field of vision. Swallowing her scream she looked up to face Akiyama-san. He nodded towards his hand and then she noticed that he was holding something out to her. Hesitantly taking it from his hands she discovered that it was a misshapen package that looked to be wrapped in his own handkerchief and knotted at the top. Looking back up at his serious face she had to suppress a smile; the presentation of this gift reminded her of her days in kindergarten, where boys unused to interacting with the girls often behaved like this. Fugitively glancing back up at Akiyama-san she could see that though he looked completely serious, perhaps even more so than usual, there was the glint of anticipation in his eyes.

Cautiously she unknotted the bundle sitting in her lap and let the corners of the handkerchief drop. There sitting innoxiously in her lap was an apple and a piece of bread that was obviously flattened by being wrapped tightly with an apple. She was touched; Akiyama-san, who had evidently never packed a meal for anybody in his life, had thought of her and noticed that she hadn't eaten anything. Looking back up at him she said her thanks; her voice was softer than usual and her eyes shone with appreciation.

Akiyama-san could not have looked more awkward; he quickly found something to do at the other side of the room leaving Nao to eat on her own. She wasn't fooled; she could recognize kindness when it was given to her. She quickly found out that this gruff, awkward style of kindness was purely how Akiyama-san dealt with other people. He had been equally, if not more, awkward when he had lent her his shirt; and if it was possible he had been even worse when she returned it.

All she had said was "Thank you Akiyama-san for lending me your shirt. It was very comfortable to sleep in; thanks to you I was able to sleep well all night long." She couldn't see why he had spluttered, even more confusingly she could have sworn that he had gone slightly red- then he had rudely slammed the door in her face. She thought that perhaps Akiyama-san didn't want his kind acts acknowledged, but she was determined not to ignore them.

Kindness deserves to be acknowledged, she thought determinedly.

Thinking back at these events she realised that although she didn't know very much about Akiyama-san's life certainly she knew more about his character than anyone else. She liked what she saw in him. He wasn't a good person in the traditional sense; he defiantly lied and manipulated, but he also hadn't turned away people in need, he had been gentle and thoughtful with her although she had nearly missed it, and unlike Fukunaga-san he wasn't subversive and hurtful when lied.

* * *

Skoellya Seyth- I like to set up what the characters might be thinking and then progress the story; I think it really helps show where their actions are coming from so there isn't any confusion about a leap in character. One of my pet peeves is a character who changes too rapidly without a really good reason because to me it makes absolutely no sense when writing has to shift drastically to accommodate a change in a character. I like slow writing which sets up the stage for the next scene, and transitions from event to event without feeling choppy. So you can expect lots of looks at exactly what everyone is feeling at every moment from me. I think most people find the lack of immediate action a little tedious so they eliminate the introspective element of their characters; which is fine- it's just really not my style.

Thank you so much for the compliment and the advise- you'll really start seeing the shift in the next chapter or so I think. I guess I would be more ruthless in editing if I was editing at all. What you see here is pretty much directly what came out of my head the moment I was writing it- in other words this is completely unedited writing : )


	7. Chapter 7

Interlude

Hello all. This is Fridays' chapter, sorry it's so short but I really have no time to write more at the moment. Thank-you to everyone reading this and thank you Skoellya Seyth and Miss41101 for reviewing. The next chapter won't be up for a few days since this is going to be a very busy weekend.

Purple Marmalade

* * *

This was it. There was no going back after this point if he didn't return half his winnings to abstain from the third round he had a feeling that he would see the game through until the end.

At least she was out of the game- now that she had lost a round, even if she hadn't ended up in debt there was no way for her to re-enter the game. He had made his decision. After settling all of the debts with Eri, and having her take account of whom the rest of the money should go to he was guided out of the building.

She had waited for him.

She called to him from a distance away and ran up to him. It was almost as if she was glad to see him. When she reached his side he kept walking "Let's go" he said not wanted her to spend any more time involved with the Liar Game. He hoped she understood that he meant for them to ride back together.

When she didn't follow him he turned around and asked her "What's wrong?"

Her face was contemplative in a poignant way "Even though we won the second round as well- the others were still forced in debt weren't they?"

Akiyama stared at her dubiously surely she wasn't upset about people like Fukunaga being forced into debt, if there were people in debt it was their own fault for taking part in such a game. They had been fully aware of the risks and he was sure that they had willingly made the decision to come to the second round.

"Somehow when I think about that; although we were saved- I can't feel happy." She looked as if she was about to cry.

She was really serious. Although all of these people would have sent her into a debt without a second thought she still felt badly for them. He was slightly awed by her; obviously this girl was not normal by any means.

When they were both safely in the car- his rented bicycle was being returned by the LGT Secretariat- Nao asked him to explain how he had known she had gone to the second round, and how he had known about Fukunaga all over again.

Then she asked him a question that he had been hoping she wouldn't "How much did you pay No. 15?"

For once he decided he wouldn't lie to her. She was upset by his decision to participate in the third round. The girl was absolutely astonishing in the effort she put into caring for others even after she learnt that they were not as good and pure as she had first thought them to be. Sure nobody could care about others so much? I wasn't possible to put others in front of oneself; humans just didn't function that way.

"You shouldn't sacrifice yourself for all of us." That was her first response- she always thought the best of everybody.

"Sacrifice? I'm not that noble" he explained himself to her. He could see that she clearly didn't believe that he wasn't taking action for the well-being of the other players- but that was moot because regardless of her misgivings he would have to participate in the third round.

They sat together in silence for a while when Nao suddenly looked up at him through her lashes- for a moment something indescribable bubbled up in him at the sight; then she said "Akiyama-san" he made a small noise of encouragement.

"I've finally figured out what the S or M question meant." Akiyama was caught so much by surprise that he somehow managed to choke on air and dissolved into hapless fits of coughing.

"Akiyama-san? Are you alright?" Nao hurriedly turned to him trying to somehow help him stop coughing. He waved her away and was finally able to regain his ability to breathe correctly; the flushed face from his coughing thankfully covering up his embarrassingly red face.

"Is it so surprising that I figured it out myself?" Akiyama looked at her incredulously, suddenly very thankful for the glass separator between them and the driver. "Although it's surprising that Etou-san and Akiyama-san were so embarrassed about it." She smiled at him sweetly.

He felt that she expected him to say something but unable to come up with anything poignant he settled for an inane "It's nice that you're so open-minded, and considerate of people's hobbies." It came out more as a question than as a statement.

She made a small sound of protest, "But Akiyama-san it's alright to be yourself and not care about what other people think."

He was truly amazed; he hadn't really thought that they had been talking about the same thing. Maybe Nao was worldlier that she seemed… It was extremely difficult to consider her as anything but the pure-hearted, innocent anomaly.

He continued to stare at her a bit dumbfounded. Who was this girl? She continued to talk unperturbed by his disbelieving looks. "After all gender roles shouldn't be made so prominent, right." He snapped out of his stupor- what on earth was she talking about?

"I don't think Akiyama-san and Etou-san should be so embarrassed about playing M.A.S.H. at all"

Akiyama looked at her in complete shock. Still unaware of what she was talking about she kept going. "Mansion or Shack is such a silly question, right Akiyama-san?" By now he felt as though he was in some sort of bizarre dream. Unexpectedly a small snort escaped him, and then he was lost to his laughter.

Nao looked up at him with a face full of slightly hurt confusion but Akiyama was beyond reproach. He laughed more than he could remember having done in a long time. Perhaps he had been wrong about her- he was sure now that Nao really was a bit of a sadist- albeit unconsciously- for setting him up like that.

By the time he had stopped she had already forgiven him for laughing at her. Instead she seemed to be endeavouring to keep him laughing for the ride of time it took to drive to her apartment.

To achieve this time she came up with all sorts of possible things that S and M could stand for making both of them erupt in hilarity several times. After two or three of her suggestions, Akiyama began to come up with a few or his own- neither of them ever making any effort to be serious. As they finally reached their destination the game ended with one of her more ridiculous guesses- Smarties or M&Ms.

Of course Nao asked him to stay the night. By now she knew about him staying at a lodging house but he hated that she thought he would have no real place to return to even if it was true. So despite her pleading he refused her offer, but she managed to wheedle him into promising to come have lunch with her the next day.

Well, he thought as he walked towards the lace he was staying at, at least he would be getting that meal she had promised him at the end of the first round a week ago. Her enthusiasm was infectious enough that even though he was sure they would end up eating take-out he wasn't sure he minded the extra trouble it would be to eat with her.

* * *

This has been an awkward little chapter for me to write- I'm not really sure I'd ever call myself a good comedian, but I felt that a moment like this is necessary because people who can laugh together become closer afterward.

Skoellya Seyth- Thank you. This is my first attempt at fan-fiction so I don't really know how much of a response to my writing I should be getting- the last chapter has been read 30 people so far, and the total hits to the story are just under 500 at the moment; which I thought was rather good for just having it up for a week. The average readers for each chapter is about 50- so people are reading it- just not reviewing. While I really could do with a few more reviews I'm not complaining, I'd have been thrilled if just one person was reading it.

Miss41140- Thank you so much for reviewing; I really appreciate the encouragement. I hope I don't keep you waiting too long for updates.


	8. Chapter 8

Interlude

Hello. I very much apologise for the lateness of this chapter- especially after the last one was a bit shorter than I like to keep my chapters. I must say the SATs are just really exhausting, even more so since I'm about and hour and a half away from the closest testing centre so I ended up staying overnight in Toronto and trying to navigate my way through the city and then writing a really tedious exam was just tiring. I came back home and slept for all of Sunday instead of writing and uploading this chapter. That being said I do think I did well; the only thing problem I had was that I lost track of time in one of the math sections and so I wasn't able to answer three of the questions but other than that I found it to be fairly easy.

Thank you to everyone for reading this far, and to my four reviewers: NausicA, longing. for .redemption, Skoellya Seyth, and Thun. It's really enjoyable to find that people actually find my writing entertaining. Smarties vs M&Ms was actually the first thing that popped into my chocolate crazed mind when I first watched episode four, and since I watch it without subs I didn't really understand Akiyama's explanation either. It wasn't until I read the wonderful subs that I understood what was going on. I would like to add that keeping to a writing schedule is driving me crazy- it was something that I thought I might try as an experiment but it's definately not working well for me, so I don't think I'll be following it any longer.

* * *

He reached Nao's apartment at around ten o'clock the next morning; it was bit early for lunch but he didn't think she'd mind too much. Apparently it was earlier than she had been expecting because as he went in the door he ran right into her going in the other direction. She clearly hadn't been expecting to walk into someone at her lonely apartment complex because she had been caught so unawares that she had fallen over.

"Akiyama-san," she exclaimed in surprise while brushing herself off "you're here so early."

"Is that a problem?" it wasn't really a question as he was pretty sure that it wasn't an issue.

"No, of course not." Nao had hurriedly said as he had expected her to "Akiyama-san will just have to come with me to the market."

Well; that was unexpected. He hadn't been to the supermarket since he was a small child and his mother had taken him along because she had nowhere to leave him while she went shopping. He had stopped going with her when he entered middle-school because he had found debating the freshness of aubergine with his mother too inane. Looking at Nao's excited face though he couldn't say no- after all how bad could it be?

So off they went; Nao carrying a big rattan basket, and Akiyama walking quietly beside her, hands in his pockets, listening to her chatter on. He had expected for her to go to the closest supermarket- but of course nothing was that sensible when Nao was around; instead he found himself walking around with her in a small farmer's market.

Everywhere he looked merchants had set up booths to sell their wares, and were now busy yelling out their offers. Nao ran about from stall to stall, surprisingly efficient at gathering the ingredients that she wanted for lunch. Even more surprisingly, she was a very sharp haggler- not allowing the vendors to charge her anything more than she thought fair, and often getting a very good price by sharing a kind word and admiring the wares.

Soon her big rattan basket was full of fresh offerings and she was ready to make the walk back. Akiyama frowned, they hadn't noticed it at the market but now it was obvious that the sky was darkening with heavy clouds and rain was eminent. Neither of them had thought to bring an umbrella, and the basket Nao was carrying would offer the food very little protection from the rain.

Akiyama sped up he steps a little bit hoping that they would get to her apartment before the storm broke. He had been concentrating on walking lost in his own thoughts for a while before he noticed Nao struggling with the basket making an effort to keep up with him. Stopping for a moment for her to catch up to him he took the basket from her without a word and continued walking in the direction of her home.

The basket had been quite heavy, and though Akiyama was holding it easily and keeping up a good pace he could imagine that for Nao it would have been extremely difficult.

She hadn't complained at all.

She probably would have struggled onwards with the basket without a single word of protest the whole way back to her house; even though he had been walking with her and could easily have carried it for her. If he hadn't noticed and taken the basket from her she probably would have done just that. He wondered how many times she had had to struggle like this living alone. It wasn't easy- he was sure, having to care for a father who was in and out of the hospital (more often in than out) and care for herself at the same time.

As far as he knew Nao didn't have a steady job, and couldn't have afforded to go back to school. At least that had been one good thing about the Liar Game. With the money she had won she would be able to manage for a while longer.

Suddenly he felt guilty- he had won over five times as much as she had in the last round if you counted the 100 million yen he had been returned as he was playing in lieu of Takada, as well as his share of the prize money from the contract. He had no need for so much money. He had been planning on using some of it to fund his return back to school- and he had also wanted to do some travelling (more to find the person behind the Liar Game than for pleasure), but that wouldn't take up even half of what he had won so far.

Looking down at the girl next to him as she walked along side of him smiling sweetly at absolutely nothing he could see something to be admired in her. She was much stronger than he had given her credit for. She had survived alone in the world that he had thought her incapable of surviving in for two years now. She had managed to go on being kind and selfless even though she had been taken advantage of many times.

His throat felt dry as it hit him- this girl had been able to forgive so much, and he had been able to forgive too little.

He was distracted from his thoughts as he felt a small hand lightly touch his forearm. "Akiyama-san?" He met her eyes as she looked at him concerned hiding it quickly with an easy smile, "We're here." He nodded to her allowing her to lead him inside her tiny apartment.

He had been there before, briefly, when she had gotten the invitation for the second round, and he didn't remember her having a table, but obviously she had found one somewhere as there was now a table just big enough for two people to sit at positioned in the corner.

"Please make yourself comfortable Akiyama-san, while I make lunch" Nao said like a dutiful little hostess. "Let me get you something to drink."

Instead of sitting down and waiting for her while Nao cooked lunch he had gone into the little kitchen area with her and leaned against one of the counters watching he work. She had donned an apron, with some popular cartoon character on it that Akiyama couldn't be bothered to place, and tied her hair up tightly, trying, but not succeeding in keeping her bangs held back.

Then she began cooking and even Akiyama with his minimal experience in the kitchen could tell that this was something she was extremely practised at. She moved confidently and with unanticipated grace around the small kitchen almost dancing around him. As she worked she hummed with joy- it was clear that this was something she loved to do. All of Akiyama's doubts about her cooking completely vanished when a delicious smell began to permeate throughout the entire apartment.

"Nearly done." Nao told Akiyama pleased "Akiyama-san, go sit down please." She ordered him in as commanding a tone of voice as she could manage. He had to smile, she looked anything but intimidating; for one, he was a good eight inches taller than her- and her stern face looked very much like her determined face; to earnest to not enter the realms of adorable.

Again he found himself unable to say no to Nao- he only hoped that she never figure out the amount of power that look had over him because he was sure that if they spent much more time together she would have him wrapped around her finger with that look. Soon she re-emerged from the kitchen laying down platters of food on the table which looked more like the fare served in high class restaurants than most people's homes.

Nao had laid out for them a perfect traditional Japanese meal- something that was becoming exceedingly rare in the city. He should have guessed that someone with as rare a personality as Nao would have interests that most people passed over. The meal was as it looked, absolutely amazing, and Akiyama ate a fair bit more than he had for a long time. Having such a meal prepared specially for him made him feel appreciated; it was a feeling that he had been unaccustomed to.

After helping Nao clear up the remains of the meal despite her protests of him being her guest Akiyama stood to leave. He had spent close to six hours with Nao without even noticing, and had enjoyed himself more than he had thought possible. It had been easier to talk to her and enjoy her frivolous chatter than Akiyama had imagined, and he found that he didn't mind talking about small pointless things with Nao.

Nao of course came to show him out the door all the while reminding him to take care of himself and asking him what he planned to eat for dinner offering to cook for him whenever he wanted. Instead of finding it to be annoying nagging Akiyama took it for what it was; the genuine concern that Nao held for everyone she felt close to, and was flattered that Nao though of his wellbeing.

As she opened the door to let him out she invited him to lunch again the next day but the words died on her lips. Rain fell heavily from the sky outside as both of them looked out in dismay.

Closing the door and turning back to Nao Akiyama asked "Is there an umbrella I can borrow?"

He followed Nao's gaze as she looked at something lying on the floor behind him and off to the side. There was what may have been at some point a bright orange and yellow polka-dotted umbrella; it was now mangled beyond recognition.

Blinking owlishly somewhat relieved that he wouldn't have to carry the colourful atrocity into the less that stellar neighbourhood he was staying in Akiyama hesitantly asked Nao "What happened to that?" he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

Clearly embarrassed she told him "It was raining last week and I was walking down the lane between here and the park- the one with the really tall trees," She began. He nodded at her to show that he knew the place, "I had gone to visit my father, and I was coming back home. I was about half way down the lane…"

Akiyama nodded in encouragement ignoring all of the unnecessary details Nao felt fit to offer. "When some kids played a prank on me by swinging a zombie Halloween decoration down in front of me when I passed by. I tried to run away but one of the strings got wrapped around me somehow and I panicked; so I tried to beat it off with my umbrella." The poor gullible girl looked at him obviously distraught by the memory "That was my favourite umbrella."

It would be her favourite umbrella Akiyama thought quickly finding the humour in the story, but looking at her upset face he wondered how many other thoughtless pranks she had endured. Without really thinking about it he asked her "How often does this happen to you?"

"Nearly every time," She answered adding quickly "but it's only a silly joke Akiyama-san, it's nothing serious."

Realizing that they were still standing in the hall way Akiyama took hold of her wrist and pulled her back to her apartment. "It's obvious that I'm not going anywhere just yet." he stated calmly "Sit down, I will make some tea." He quashed to protests that Nao made with a single look- his looks were definitely much more potent in their severity than hers.

Making two cups of tea quickly he sat one in front of her and looked her straight in the eyes as he said "Nao," neither of them noticing him dropping the honorific suffix, "when somebody does something that is hurtful it is not a joke." Taking in her shell-shocked look at this simple fact he continued "It is serious when anybody does something that hurts you without thinking of you. Taking advantage of your kindness is unforgiveable. Don't forget that you are just as important and have the same rights as everyone." Still slightly dazed by this she nodded in affirmation; and finally satisfied Akiyama let it rest.

* * *

NausicA- Thank you so much for reading, I'm glad that you like it. I plan on keeping up with this to completion and then writing some more- maybe for Liar Game, maybe something else.

longing. for. redemption- I'm glad that my little attempt at humour didn't fall flat. I think that somewhere in his heart Akiyama has the potential to be a complete dork- I think that part of him really has great potential to get along with Nao in the long term beyond going through a traumatic experience with her.

Skoellya Seyth- Thank you. While most of the time Nao and I are very different I find it really fun to write her naive side because she's so much like me that way. I'm not at all discouraged by the response to this story- I've had a couple of small works published in anthologies of first time authors, poetry and short story and when you do something like that it's impossible to tell who reads it and what they think unless you make it on a bestseller list (which I obviously haven't yet) so seeing people actually read my story in such a small category like Liar Game is actually really encouraging. Besides that, my writing is for myself- I love it unconditionally :)

Thun- Thank you so much for reviewing, I'm very glad that you're still reading this. I'm glad the writing style is working out; I think I might keep it. The next chapter takes us back to the drama time line, then I have so far planned two- two and a half chapters to be spent on the Resurrection Round. Then Finally Yokoya makes his way into the story. This is really becoming longer than I had planned... No worries- I will finish.


	9. Chapter 9

Interlude

Hi. Sorry this is so delayed. Truthfully the Resurrection Round is going to be really hard for me to write because it's actually my least favourite part of the drama... somehow I find it the most hurtful round in the whole drama. Thanks Thun for reviewing, I'm glad you like the last chapter. Thank you everyone for reading.

Purple Marmalade

* * *

Despite her insistence that Akiyama stay the night after it stopped raining- it was quite late when it finally did- he had decided to head back to his lodgings. Even though he was quite sure that Nao was trustworthy it was going to take him a lot longer than a few weeks to trust her.

Their lives settled into a routine surprisingly quickly. Akiyama would meet Nao everyday at her doorstep to go to the market, then she would make lunch and despite her lingering protests Akiyama would help her clean up. He felt that it wasn't really that she minded his help- but rather that she had made a small tradition out of reminding him that it was her job as a good hostess to clean up. It was all very safe and planned because although she hid it well; Akiyama could see that Nao was waiting anxiously for the next round to be announced.

After lunch came the only spontaneity of their day- when they would choose to play a board or card game, go for a walk, watch a movie, or just simply talk. Then on his way to the lodging house Akiyama would walk Nao to the hospital to see her father. She told him that she would be alright walking home, but he lingered outside the gates unseen and walked her home without her knowing. She never seemed to notice him, but everyone else who would approach her on the way certainly did and stayed away.

Nao supposed he thought he was being subtle. She really tried to keep his pride intact by not acknowledging his presence as he walked her home from a distance, but it was really quite difficult when Kimura-san, the poor old lady who lived next door to her, practically ran in the other direction upon seeing him. She supposed that it wasn't really that Akiyama-san was being obvious about following her but the reactions of the people he glared at for approaching her were difficult to miss.

To his credit he did scare away all of those who habitually harassed her on her way home: the gang of middle-school boys who played pranks on her, Takahashi-san- the salary man who regularly made passes at her when he was drunk, and a whole slew of other people who she would rather not have dealt with. She knew that it wasn't that Akiyama-san didn't think that she was capable of managing on her own, after all she had been living by herself for over a year, but rather that he wanted to make sure that she wasn't bothered.

The past few days Akiyama-san had been really thoughtful. He had kept strictly to her schedule of going to the market, making lunch, and then going to see her father. She wasn't usually so insistent on keeping to a schedule but the Liar Game had deeply disturbed her with its unpredictable nature, so after the second round she had sunk into routine to help her cope with the stress that came from participating in such a horrible game.

She hated that Akiyama-san still had to go on to round three all alone.

Now that she knew Akiyama-san's true nature she couldn't help but worry about him. After the last round she trusted him and his abilities implicitly, it wasn't that Akiyama-san would lose the game that she worried about. It was that he would lose himself. Such a terrible game that put people against each other and forced them to forget about their true nature as decent human beings was enough to cause someone who remained playing too long to succumb to the darkness of their own mind. She had no doubt that Akiyama-san could get to the final round and win that too- that's not why she worried; She worried about what would be left of him once he did.

Akiyama-san was too good, too kind- too hurt, to play such a game. She didn't know what had hurt him so much in the past, but whatever it was it was still causing him too much pain to play a game that would cause his pain to so easily turn to hatred. Slowly- she thought, slowly he would heal, and begin to believe in people again, and then- she thought, he would be beautiful.

He was already showing signs of taking the path of forgiveness. He was beginning to trust her she could see, perhaps not as implicitly as she trusted him but it was a close thing; it was balm to her soul because she so badly wanted him to trust her. He certainly had started to show the kind side of his personality at least in anonymity. It was evidenced by the fact that he kept to her schedule faithfully, he made sure that she was home safely at night before he went back to where he was staying.

It was evidenced most clearly when she had gone to pay her father's hospital bill. It wasn't that hospital care was particularly expensive, but his insurance had been, and in between renting her apartment and her own expenses she had only just managed to pay for his health insurance without the extra expenses. It had been a while since she had been able to and she was sure that the bill would be tremendous. To her surprise when she tried to pay for her father's stay at the hospital they told her that it had already been taken care of.

She hadn't been able to believe it. On her way out she had approached the secretary, who was new on rotation and had been eager enough to gossip with her. She heard all about the dark, brooding young man who had come in and asked about the account and then without a word had slammed down enough money on the counter to cover Kanzaki-san's entire stay in 10 thousand yen notes. The chatty secretary had gone on to speculate that he had been some sort of drug dealer or mob member to come up with that much money but Nao had long stopped listening.

Akiyama-san had paid the bill for her. He had recalled the conversation they had had about school and how much Nao had wanted to go to university but had not been able to because she didn't have the money for both her father and university. He had guessed that she would never have picked university over her father. He had known that she would use her winnings to pay her debt. He had done it for her.

She had truly been touched. Akiyama-san was quickly becoming an irreplaceable friend, a permanent part of her life. He still knew much more about her than she knew about him but slowly she was starting to piece together that he had lived with his mother and majored in psychology before his brief prison sentence but he would clam up whenever it came up- he never mentioned his mother either and Nao couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her.

No matter how much she tried she couldn't help but worry about the third round. More than anything else Nao worried that Akiyama would disappear and never come back. When roughly a week after the end of the second round Akiyama-san didn't show up to escort her to the market she felt as if her worst fears had been realized. She would have given anything to know what was going on- if the third round had started then the least Akiyama-san could have done would be to call her and let her know where he was.

She didn't go to the market that day or the next day. She called her father at the hospital and told him that she wouldn't be coming to see him for a few days as her shift at work had changed. She lied to her father, barricaded herself at home, and waited restlessly by the phone.

By the third day of waiting Nao was beside herself with worry. There had been absolutely no news of Akiyama-san. It was just approaching 10 o'clock when there was a knock on the door. Without pausing to think of being cautious Nao flew to the door and threw it wide open with excitement.

"Are you going to abandon Akiyama?" They obviously knew how to get to her. There was no way that she would abandon Akiyama the rest of what Tanimura-san said didn't really faze her; she didn't really feel guilty for getting Akiyama-san involved in this game- she had been in the beginning, but now, after everything they had gone through together she found that guilt wasn't something that factored in their relationship.

She listened in silence as Tanimura explained what had happened to Akiyama-san's poor mother with growing anger. There was no way he should be telling her this because Akiyama-san hadn't been ready to tell her this himself. Fro the first time she really felt angry at the LGT Office for existing because Akiyama-san had already been through enough. They had no right to make him face more challenges when he was already facing so much.

She understood then why Akiyama-san had helped her, why he hadn't been able to turn her away. It was then that she felt the guilt hit her- she had used him; unintentionally to be sure but she had. She had unwittingly used emotional blackmail to force him into helping her without ever being aware that she was doing so, and now Akiyama-san was stuck in this game because she hadn't read the stupid letter that had come with the first box before opening it. She had caused him more pain because of her own foolishness.

She couldn't let him go on alone. She couldn't let him think that she had only cared for him because he had been helping her through the game. She had to prove herself to him so she agreed to go to the Resurrection Round of the Liar Game Tournament- a game she had been only too glad to quit. That's how three days later she found herself standing outside a dilapidated warehouse waiting for the Resurrection Round to begin.


	10. Chapter 10

Resurrection Round

Alrighty, this is the first of two chapters from Nao's perspective- the one after that will be from Akiyama's point of view (that may extend to two chapters as well), and then we'll move on to round three. BGR has offered to edit this story for me, and I have accepted so very shortly you will find that the chapters being replaced- there will be no changes really except for rewording to make things more clear. The only significant change so far has been that I offhandedly mentioned Nao going to school in chapter one; whereas, I had later decided that due to the expense of having to support herself and her father she would have a part time job instead- I thank BGR for pointing out that mistake.

This chapter has been written for a while but I was at a Miyavi concert and couldn't upload it- I'm sure you all understand, and in case anyone was wondering it was absolutely amazing. Finally thanks to everyone for reading so far, and thank you Thun and BGR for reviewing- responses as always are at the bottom. As a side note I would really love to hear everyone's thoughts on this story, so please do review; although I'm not saying that I won't update before however many reviews it really is a good motivator (It makes me very happy). In addition I will be going away for vacation with family for 2 weeks starting the first of July so I will most likely not be able to update during that time.

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As soon as she entered the warehouse she felt as if she had made a terrible mistake by coming back into the game. As soon as she saw everyone who had ended up in debt after round two already in the room that she was entering she knew she had fallen into the LGT Office's trap. This was their way of keeping people in rising debt that they would have no hope of ever escaping from. Really this was a terrible game- the best way to win this game was to never play.

Still she hoped that there was some way to come out of this next round unscathed. Maybe if everyone worked together… She hoped that they could all make it out of the situation together, but the steel like hardness that shone in the eyes of her fellow players scared her. Through the harshness of the preceding rounds these people had been stripped of all of their capacity for kindness it seemed- and that, more than the game itself, terrified Nao.

Perhaps it was because she had become wearier since she had participated in such a nerve wracking game, or maybe Akiyama-san's constant warnings of caution had started to sink in; whatever it was Nao couldn't help but be closed off when Fukunaga-san approached her. Regardless of her natural generosity towards everyone Fukunaga-san had betrayed everyone in the last round and she didn't quite feel like she could trust him.

"You also lost in the second round, right?" he said as if the end of the last round had never happened. She couldn't understand why he was talking to her but she didn't want to talk to him. She tried silently to slip away.

"Let's be friends" she looked at him startled by the notion that he thought she had forgiven him when he hadn't even apologized.

The dealer saved her from further forced interaction with Fukunaga by beginning to explain the game. It was as she was beginning to realize- once you were in the Liar Game they tried to keep in the game, and consequently in debt. It was a terrible game. This round was even worse that the one before it- it required all of the players to forsake one of their own as a sacrifice so that they may escape. Nao was already staring to feel slightly sick- disgusted at the thought that this game pitted all against one- she really wished she hadn't come.

The day had barely started and she was already feeling lethargic, she tried to listen carefully to the rest of the rules and the use of the M tickets to see how this game could be played strategically but she couldn't really come up with anything- all the rules were swirling around in her head. After seeing that the other players had come prepared with things to sell to each other she felt even less prepared.

After they were dismissed by the dealer Nao went off by herself mostly to clear her foggy head and pick out a space to sleep. When she went back to the main area she was absolutely shocked by the cavalier attitude that the other players were displaying. Etou-san even gestured her over and offered her something to eat without asking for any reparation. The explanation for their behaviour made her feel distinctly uncomfortable- it was good that the players were banding together but to band together in hatred was still wrong.

What worried her even more than everyone banding against Fukunaga-san, was how calmly Fukunaga-san was accepting their agenda. Nao's stomach lurched as he came over. "How about playing an ice breaker?" His voice had taken on a sickly sweet tone as he proposed his question to the other players.

Nao's eyes shot open and she tried to edge away uncomfortably but Fukunaga must have seen her trying to get away and the look in his eyes kept her rooted to the ground. If she ran away he would twist it into something sinister- if she stayed he would twist it into something sinister; so she might as well face what he told everyone about her with dignity, instead of running away like a coward.

As the others told their tales of woe Nao couldn't help but feel sincerely bad for them- if she had insisted the prize money from the last round be split more equally then none of them would be here desperately fighting- it was probably true for the game they were now playing also; if the money was split evenly nobody would end up in debt. It was a moot point Nao gathered since everyone was only working together out of fear and hatred instead of trying to help each other achieve a mutual victory.

Then finally it was her turn to tell everyone why she was participating in the round and as she had been dreading Fukunaga cut off nearly everything she said and twisted the rest beyond recognition. If it had been a court of law and he had been her solicitor he would have been thrown out for all the leading questions- but none of that was of any consequence; he turned everyone against her in one fell swoop. Finally she realised that was what Fukunaga had been scheming to do all along- he had turned the group against her because he had planned to have her 'restructured'.

Still she remained rooted to the ground unable to bear the looks of disdain that everyone was aiming at her. They thought that she was a greedy, conniving, sycophant- wheedling her way into the group only to turn wolf at the last minute- the irony of the notion rested briefly at the edge of her thoughts before being brushed away by the horror of what she had gotten herself into.

One by one, the other players brushed past her, some avoiding her like she had cholera- others making sure to jostle her harshly as they passed her. The last to leave was Fukunaga, as he flashed her a ruthless smile and popped the last bit of his Caplico Cone into his mouth making sure to time the crunch of the biscuit just as he walked past her.

Gathering herself she ran after the other players trying her best to talk to them but there was nobody left who was willing to listen to her. She swallowed the lump in her throat- it had been a long time since people had completely ignored her. It was a sad, lonely feeling that she hadn't felt in long time- but that wasn't really the truth. It was the same feeling she felt everyday; with her father in the hospital, and the people who pretended to care about her she was just as alone there as she was outside of the game. At least the other players told her how they felt about her to her face instead of hiding behind false cheer only to turn her away in her times of need.

The truth was that she woke up alone every morning, ate alone every afternoon, walked to the hospital alone every evening, and went back to her apartment only to repeat the cycle. Her life held no real joy besides talking to the patrons and nurses of the small hospital her father was at. Even when she found work waitressing at a nearby family restaurant she had been all alone even when she was surrounded by people. That was no longer the truth either.

Akiyama-san had broken the forlorn monotony of her life even when he followed her schedule exactly. He had treated her like she mattered, and he had brought out the part of her that refused to let people discard her. He had followed her to the second round of the Liar Game without a thought- and even when he had admonished her for being fooled but the LGT Office it had been half-hearted at best.

He hadn't treated her like she was imbecilic- or questioned her intelligence at all- he accepted her as she was. Then he had still cared enough after the end of the round to make sure that she got home safely, and somehow she had convinced him to spend his afternoons with her. The truth was that when he had stopped coming to see her everyday she had worried that he was gone for good- that more than anything was the impetus that caused her to enter the Resurrection Round. She smiled a small wry smile; he wouldn't be coming to save her this time because he had no idea where she was, and had no way of finding out.

"You're all alone now aren't you?" Nao felt tears of frustration, and desolation prickle at the corners of her eyes. He had no right to treat her like a friend after he had so cruelly ensured that everyone would try to make her lose the round. He was wrong she could blame him because what he had said hadn't been the truth- omission was still lying; but that meant that Akiyama-san had lied to her countless times because although he had never said anything that had been untrue to her, he had definitely omitted many of the important details of his plans.

The thought of Akiyama-san lying to her made her heart lurch. How could you trust somebody who constantly lied to you? Fukunaga explained his plan to her, and to her still fuzzy mind it sounded like a logical course of action and before she knew what she was doing she had agreed. This whole game made her feel lost and confused, and as much as she tried to grasp some sort of strategy for herself everything seemed to flow over her, drowning her in the machinations that ran abound in this game.

"Why are you helping me?" the question was burning in her mind and she couldn't stop herself from asking Fukunaga about his motives.

"You looked so fragile that I couldn't leave you alone." It was a good answer. It was the right answer. It was the type of answer that she would have expected to hear from Akiyama-san. Maybe then it was possible that more people in the world would take her on her own terms like Akiyama-san had if she gave them the chance? After all if she hadn't been so desperate it was doubtful that she would ever have approached him- and it was unthinkable that they ever would have met under any other circumstances. This time when Fukunaga-san asked her if she would help him she agreed with certainty.

What he had said worried her though. Was there really no way for everybody to be happy in this game? If nobody took anybody else's money and they all split the votes equally then there would be no losers and everyone could progress to the third round, but then nobody would be able to leave the game. She spent the rest of her time musing over the problem not really coming up with a solution; before she really noticed it was time for the first vote casting.

Was she really surprised that Fukunaga had betrayed her again? If she looked deep within herself she knew she wasn't really surprised but it still hurt. Nobody had voted for her- there wasn't even one vote. It struck her as slightly odd that the voting had been so even, everyone had gotten five votes except Fukunaga who had gotten ten, but she couldn't really see how it could possibly have been a contrived result.

"You promised" it was all that she could say to Fukunaga as he sauntered by.

"Did you forget the objective of this game?" She was struck by what he had said. What was the reason for this game? Was cruelty such a pressing motive; or was it something else entirely? "Being deceived is always your own fault." Was this really her fault?

Was being foolishly honest really a bad thing?

Discouraged she settled down against the wall and gave into the overwhelming urge to cry. She couldn't give up before she had fully tried so again she tried to talk to the other players to convince them to vote for her, but it was useless. Whoever she tried to talk to turned her away, and more than ever before Nao felt like curling into a corner somewhere and giving up completely. Then it was time for the second vote. Nao tried desperately just to get somebody to listen to her but her pleas fell on deaf ears. The third round was the same.

"What will you do?" Nao was beyond being intimidated by Eri, and so for the first time she talked to her without avoiding her. She was beyond surprised by how pleasant Eri was; she couldn't imagine why she was a part of this awful game. She realised that maybe she had been wrong to think the worst of somebody without really taking the time to know them- maybe it was just as wrong to think the best of someone without really knowing them. Either way it was a judgement made without any basis, so maybe she should be trying to really know people before making up her mind about who they were; good, or bad.

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Thun- For this piece one of the objectives was to add scenes without changing the flow of the drama at all- so while there will be scenes that didn't happen in the drama they won't change what happens in the drama. I do have a few interesting ideas for AU Liar Game stories but I want to finish this first then if I still find those Ideas interesting I might write something AU. You're right I didn't notice that the last chapter is a bit of both Akiyama and Nao- when it comes up for editing I will try to fix that. To answer your last question I am indeed female, so I suppose 'my lady' would be more appropriate than 'my lord' :). Thank you so much for your continued support, and for reading this and reviewing it.

BGR- I know we've already discussed it, but once again I'd like to thank you for beta reading this- It means more to me than I can say that people are reading this, reviewing it, and in general liking it. Every time I log in and see that I've managed to get a hundred or so hits in a matter of a few hours it makes me feel really amazingly good.


	11. Chapter 11

Hello everyone, Purple Marmalade here.

First of all I must say I'm absolutely stunned! I returned to this site mostly out of curiosity today- just to see how my poor, mostly abandoned story was doing. I wasn't expecting that anyone would really have paid it much attention, but all of you fantastic people have really touched my heart and even a full year after deciding that I really couldn't update this any longer I'm going to continue writing.

I thank each and every one of the people who took the time to read this and review it because it really was coming back and finding that so many people had taken the time to say something nice that prompted me to continue. Thank you.

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"I don't want to give up." Even as Nao said that to Eri she wasn't sure if that was true. Right then there was nothing more that she wanted to do than to give up entirely and go to sleep in her own bed; hopefully when she woke up this nightmare would be over.

"But…" Her throat tightened as her eyes started to sting sharply with tears. It had been irresponsible for her to have come here; especially when she knew what type of twisted game this was. She was just causing Akiyama-san trouble, and she felt really quite pathetic in front of Eri who looked like her composure never chipped. She had no skill at the type of thinking that was required here, and on top of that there was her father to consider. Her father. She felt the sharp pain of shock run through her leaving her feeling quite light headed. Had she even been thinking of him? She couldn't stand to sit there any longer. Standing up with the last of her strength she bowed shakily to Eri as an apology and with her head bent so that her hair would hide her face she walked away as fast as she could manage without looking like she was running away.

She was running away. As far away as she would be allowed to go- of course since she was required to stay in the building this wasn't really far at all. She did manage to make her way to the far part of the building before collapsing into a room that she was sure none of the others had been in yet. While before she had wanted desperately for one of the other contestants to talk to her, right now she couldn't stand the thought.

She curled herself into a chair- into as small a ball as she could manage and let the tears fall. Before she knew it she was dozing off, just half way between been awake and asleep when the faint remnants of a memory of a conversation flitted through her hazy consciousness.

It had been a rainy day, and so she and Akiyama-san had decided to stay indoors at her apartment. It was one of the times that instead of doing anything to otherwise fill up their time together they had just talked- it was those times of companionship that Nao cherished most.

"I wish that I could be more capable." Nao had forgotten how this topic of conversation had come up, but she could still recall how her face had immediately flushed after saying something so forwardly.

Akiyama had smiled at her, the corners of his mouth had trembled slightly and she had gotten the feeling that he was trying hard no to laugh at her. She remembered the amusement in his eyes had caused her to huff slightly and grab her teacup- still half full- intending fully to go the kitchen to get away from those laughing eyes.

Before she had managed to get up she had been stopped by his hand on her wrist, not gripping firmly enough to cause any discomfort, just enough to tell her that he didn't want her to leave. Turning back to meet his eyes her annoyance immediately softened. Whereas only a few weeks ago she would have said that his expression had been inscrutable now she could see the gentleness in them. He hadn't meant to upset her.

"You are the most capable person I know." She looked away from him. There was no way he meant that; she knew she was possibly the most pathetic person on the planet. "It's true." He continued obviously sensing her disbelief. "Look at me." She simply couldn't bring herself to. "Nao, look at me." At the sound of her given name she jolted slightly in surprise looking up to meet his eyes. "You're the strongest person I know. You look after you father without complaint, you work hard to support yourself, at night you study so that one day you can go back to school." She was surprised; she hadn't thought that he had seen the stack of books under her bed. "You do all of this without self-pity, and you still manage not to begrudge anyone's happiness. I wish I could be as brave as you."

"I wish I could be as brave as you." He had said that, and here she was crying like a little girl. She scrubbed her eyes furiously. She was done crying. What she needed to do now was to figure out what Fukunaga had done and how she was going to counteract it. Just because she didn't have a plan didn't make this foolish behaviour acceptable. If Akiyama-san thought that she could be brave then it was time to prove him right. Even if she didn't win; even if she couldn't help Shinichi, at least she could be someone that he could be proud of.

Just as she finished affirming this promise to herself Etou-san's hand came into her view. She started having been so wrapped up in her thoughts she had not seen or heard him come into the room. He handed her a bottle of water and wanting very much to believe in the goodness in him she took it.

"That's all that I can do for you."

"I feel bad for you."

It wasn't what she wanted to hear. If he felt so bad for her then he could have helped her by voting for her. If he had felt like he owed her something then why wasn't he helping her?

"I wanted to vote for you, now I can't do that anymore." This caught her attention.

"What do you mean?" She asked him with urgency. Finally here were the answers that she had been seeking.

Then he explained it all to her. Fukunaga had betrayed her from the start; he had lied to her and then sold her out. He had never had any intention of helping her and now because of her foolishness and trusting ways he was going to win and there was nothing that she could do about it. Everyone was locked under a contract. Her mind was blank, her heart was racing; she had thought that she was too young for a heart attack, but every moment in this place made her feel more and more like her heart was going to explode.

She could see the absolute fear in Etou-san's eyes when Fukunaga found them and even as he scrambled away from her as Fukunaga stood over her laughing her eyes began to tear up again. There; however, were not tears of despair as Fukunaga obviously assumed judging by his triumphant laughter, rather, they were tears of absolute fury.

For the first time Nao felt like she was seeing the world as it was. People like Fukunaga existed because of the fear of not having enough. That is why Fukunaga was a bully. He felt like the only way it was possible for him to have enough was to steal it from others. People like Etou-san existed because they did not want the responsibility of standing up to people, and because they did not want the burden of being true to their morals.

Suddenly it came to her: To win this game she would have to convince people to pick up the burden of kindness.

Yet her inspiration stopped there. She had no idea of how to trick people. She wished that Akiyama-san was there to help her, she wished that she could call him- but that was expressly forbidden in the rules of the game. The fourth and fifth rounds passed the same way. Nao still had no idea of how she was going to manage to appeal to these people's sense of kindness or mercy for they simply didn't seem to have any. Etou-san wasn't even so much as looking in her direction and every effort she made to talk to him had him completely stonewalling her.

By the end of the fifth round she felt the despair creeping up on her again. Why was she so useless? Why couldn't she do anything for herself?

She was going to lose. She was terrified. She was going to lose and there was nothing she could do about it.

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A little short I know, but I'm still a bit disoriented picking up where I left off a year ago. I'm going to scuttle off right now and get started on the next chapter- I'm going to try and pace myself properly this time so that I don't end up with the same problem as last time: burnout is a horrible thing. Besides that- before I had no idea of what it was like to fall in love with someone. Now I do.

Once again thank you all for reading; I can't believe anyone is still reading this almost two years later.


	12. Chapter 12

He walked down the sidewalks of the city- lately the small room he was renting had become too small for his pacing and he felt like he was suffocating; so he walked. It was supposed to help clear his mind but it wasn't really helping- as of late he found his every thought meandering itself back to the one person he had been trying to forget.

It wasn't that there was something wrong with Nao, (he had long since given up using any sort of formal suffix at the end of her name- at least in his own head- he just simply couldn't understand himself. He wasn't unhappy. For the first time in years he wasn't unhappy, he didn't know what was wrong with him, but he wasn't used to the sense of being so uninhibited. It was as if there had been a stone on his chest, crushing him, that he hadn't even realised existed, and for the first time in years it had been lifted allowing him to inhale fully.

It was incomprehensible, and every time he tried to discern what direction his life was taking now his head would erupt into a frenzy of thought; paths that he could take from here were unencumbered and full of potential. He had never felt like he could do anything before- and now he felt like he could take on the whole world.

He wasn't stupid- in fact he knew he was absolutely brilliant- he knew that the only really factor that had changed in his life was Nao. He guessed that perhaps her acceptance of him despite knowing that he had been in prison helped lift his thoughts- he hadn't thought that there would be any future for an ex-convict.

Not that he thought the rest of the world would be as accommodating and tolerant as she was. Quite the contrary, he expected that the rest of the world would take one look at his criminal record and immediately turn their backs; which is why as soon as he had the opportunity he had invested most of what he had won from the first two rounds of the game. He had spent most of his time in prison learning about business and carefully investing what little money he had left over from the sale of the apartment his mother had scrimped and saved for her whole life- most of that had gone towards paying for the debt she had accrued, and the various fees and funeral expenses.

He knew that there was no way he would be able to get any sort of work- legal work- and so he had planned for every worst case scenario that had occurred to him. That was part of the problem. How could he dare to associate himself with someone like Nao? She was someone who had worked hard, who instead of seeking revenge like he had, tried her best to make the world a better place. Was he by his very presence in her life becoming a blemish upon the bright spark of her life?

He couldn't stand to ruin her. She was too perfect, and he would destroy her- not intentionally, but eventually everything in his life had been destroyed.

So he walked. He walked away from her. He hadn't seen her in that day and already he was missing her simple, unaffected nature. That was why he had to leave, he told himself, he had already become attached to her- prolonging his departure from her life would only make it worse for both of them. There were wolves in the world and she needed to be protected from all of them- even if one of them was him.

When she had first approached him he had been suspicious of her. He had wondered what she wanted from him, obviously her act of kindness was so overdone that she was a half-baked actress at best (he hadn't yet been exposed to how truly awful her acting skills really were yet.) His lips quirked upwards at the thought of her attempts at being deceptive, it really was just too pathetic. He had tried his best to scare her away but she had worn him down and now he wouldn't have it any other way. Nao was one of a kind and the world was much better off for having her. That's why he had to push her away, even if she was his first real friend.

Still when she had called him he had to restrain himself from picking up the phone. He was resolute in his intentions. He would walk away from her before she finally came to her senses and turned him away.

She had made lunch for him every single day for the past 2 weeks, and sent the leftovers with him for dinner. He couldn't remember the last time someone had done that for him with such consistency. Even when his mother had been around she had been too busy working to really spend too much time around the house. Most of the meals that they had shared in those last few years he had with her had been store bought.

Even on days when she managed to take a shift working at the small family restaurant; she would pack him a bento and leave it outside her door. He had used to think that such things would annoy him; that this simple slow paced life would bore someone like him who needed constant mental stimulation.

In reality the effort that Nao put into every little aspect of her life humbled him- even when she made him character themed bentos it just made him shake his head- but not with derision as he once would have. He wasn't sure that liked the feeling of being so humbled.

The truth was that he felt like the lowest slime on earth, here she was, doing all of this for him, and all he could think about was how she was probably doing it out of the misguided notion that she owed him something.

Maybe she did owe him something. If he hadn't spent his time helping her she would already be in debt by ¥100,000,000 with no way to repay it, but then why did he feel like the most worthless cad in existence when he allowed her to take care of him. How was it possible that two weeks of home cooking and simple company were worth more than all of that money? He didn't know how it was possible. It shouldn't be. Yet it was.

The first thing that he did was go the hospital that her father was staying at. He had to settle his debt to her, but he didn't know how to settle this sort of debt. What sort of settlement was required for home cooked meals, and companionship? What sort of payment is equal to friendship?

He didn't know- he had never been close enough to anyone to find out. His mother had paid what she thought her debt was to him by doing what she did- but after having gone through what he had he doubted that Nao would appreciate that sort of repayment.

Though he couldn't assay the rankling thought that money could never be the sort of repayment that Nao would approve of, he made sure that he had covered the entire cost of her father's treatment. He also made sure that the hospital would keep him informed of any new expenses that were incurred; perhaps it wasn't much, and perhaps it wasn't the sentiment that he wished he could express- but it was all he could think to do for a girl who was so selfless.

It was the fifth day he was roaming the city sidewalks that the calls had stopped coming. He was a fool- this is what he had wanted: To keep her safe, to keep her away from all he was, to keep her protected from the poison of the world. She had been content before she had met him, he knew that she had. He had no right to feel upset when she had finally done what he wanted her to do- unless he hadn't really wanted her to do it.

He hadn't really wanted her to do it. He had wanted her to fight him. He had wanted to stay, and maybe he would have if she had kept trying. She had given up on him. Why did it surprise him? That's what people were like. They gave up. After all, his own parents had given up on him. What obligation did she have towards him?

None.

She was just like everyone else after all. He laughed to himself. Of course she was. Just like his mother had been. His mother had loved him- that's what she had told him, but in the end she had left him. Maybe that's what love was- maybe it was too fragile to survive in this world. Things break.

His resolve was only strengthened when he was approached by Tanimura. He didn't know what sort of twisted bastard was playing with him but the pieces he had of the puzzle so far all fell into place. Nao had been manipulated into the Liar Game to get to him. They had known who she was and how to get to him through using her. They had picked her because they thought that she was the type of person who would appeal to him. A sudden chill ran through him: Nao might still be in danger.

"About what happened three years ago…we want to express our gratitude." He felt himself go cold. It didn't make any sense, why wait three years for revenge when he had been a perfect target while he was in prison. He slammed Tanimura up against the wall; there was no way his answers were getting away from him before he knew exactly what he wanted to.

"The CEO from three years ago was a dummy." At this point this wasn't really unexpected news. If the CEO had been the real leader of the group the organisation would have crumbled and then there would have been no one to take revenge against him.

Still he let Tanimura go; let them think that he was clueless, in the end knowledge that he had that they didn't know he did could only prove to be advantage. Besides he now had a few scenarios he wanted to run and Tanimura would be of no more use. If the organisation was as big as he thought it was then Tanimura was just hired help.

Obviously what he had gotten himself caught up in was much larger than he had expected; but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. There were plenty of ways to use that to his advantage. So far the dividends had been high as he had made a healthy turnover investing the one billion yen he had won in the second round before returning it. Certainly nowhere close to as much as he would have if he had just kept the prize money in one final double cross, but enough that money wasn't going to be a concern for the foreseeable future. If this LGT Office wanted to test him then he was willing to bet that they either wanted to destroy him or to hire him.

Perhaps there would be some cheesy 'Shinichi, I am your father' reveal at the end- possible, but not really plausible. At one point in his life, when he had been much younger that had been his heart's desire: a well off father crawling out of the woodwork somewhere along the line and promising to take care of his mother and him. The time for that was long gone now, as if he ever met his father he was sure that he wouldn't be able to forgive him.

If there was one thing he knew about himself it was that he had an unforgiving nature.

"Why are you playing this game?"

It was a good question, and when Eri had asked it, he hadn't been able to answer her- not that he would have if he could.

"Are you playing to save her? Or are you playing to save yourself?"

He wasn't sure that this type of sadistic game could be played to save anyone, but at the moment he was content to keep Nao out of it. Just thinking about her made him change his path towards her apartment. He had promised that he wouldn't get her involved in this- he hadn't promised that he wouldn't check up on her. He continued on his walk, his steps emboldened with new purpose.

That foolish, senseless, selfless girl. Panic ripped through him. He wasn't sure why Eri had called him, but he was grateful that she had. She hadn't told him much, just that Nao was losing at whatever game was being played and having him help her would not be against the rules of this round. She hadn't needed to say anything else- truthfully he had stopped paying attention as soon as she had given him the address for the Revival Round location- he may have even hung up on her.

His every breath burned down his throat and seared his lungs. He barely noticed the people he shoved away from him as he ran full tilt. Nao was down at the harbour a full three kilometers from where he was. Normally Akiyama wasn't really much of a runner, but he somehow managed to run the full distance in less than half an hour.

Before long he stood in front of the unassuming looking warehouse that Eri had sent him to. Well it would have been unassuming if it wasn't for the pyrotechnics that seemed to flare up at random intervals. Taking a moment to calm his breathing and fix his clothing Akiyama finally walked into Kanzaki Nao's live once again. It seemed like she was going to fight for him after all.

* * *

Well here we are. I have to say writing my way through the resurrection round has really made me fonder of this part of the story. There are so many opportunities to develop the characters from here, and many more chances to add in bits that don't happen in the drama at all.

I'm definitely leaning towards pushing Nao and Akiyama a lot closer than they're shown to be. It's definitely fun to write Akiyama as Nao pulls out his conscience from where he had it hidden and dusts it off. I don't want him to be a sap, but he is a person regardless of how television pushes him into the 'cool' stereotype. In the same way I don't really agree with how Nao constantly plays damsel in distress. She's playing this game and she will get smarter and more intuitive as it goes along.

That said this is probably going to turn mildly AU as we go along because although I fully intend to stick to the drama in terms of what was shown I fully intend to alter the relationships the characters have because I assume you can't turn them off in between shots and stuff them in a closet somewhere. I realize that Japanese media has this image of the guy in a relationship being cool to the point of not really sharing any of his emotions with the girl, but I'm not buying it as the basis of a successful relationship.

Thanks so much to Hotarubi and mEEEm for reviewing, and thank you everyone else for reading so far. Please do drop me a line or two and let me know how I'm doing. See you next time!

Purple Marmalade


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